Concealed
by Snakey
Summary: Kairi has a weird dream that Sora is hurt, and wanted to go save him, but then a wave came. A boy that looks exactly like Sora but with red eyes then arrives in Destiny Islands, how will Kairi help him? (Sora x Kairi) Chapter Eleven up!
1. Prologue: Shattering Dream

Concealed by: Snakey  
  
Prologue: Shattering Dream  
  
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It was a hot sunny day like no other on a small world. The bright sun, the clear water in the ocean, but then again, it's not the outside that counts as the causing of trouble, but the inside. Inside the dreams of a young red haired girl on that small world called Destiny Islands.  
  
"Hey! Kairi! Want to go in for a swim?" said Selphie.  
  
The red head sat up, still a bit tired from. well. lying there on the sand for too long.  
  
"It's okay, I think I'll just lay here and relax." She said.  
  
"Suit yourself!" And without another word, Selphie dived into the water, and started swimming like a fish.  
  
Kairi plopped back onto the hot sandy beach. She looked up into the blue sky.  
  
'Wow. It's been half a year since I saw him.'  
  
By now she was in deep thought, with her eyes closed, and she was thinking of what she thought of every time she was on the beach. Sora. She remembered the old times, when they used to have races and sword fights, how she would wake him up from a deep slumber with a hard hit on his head. Some how the phrase 'lazy bum' was starting to mean more to her than a way to insult others. Kairi's mind was filled with thoughts of Sora, and the words 'wake up, you lazy bum' repeated in her mind.  
  
'Huh?'  
  
She sat up and looked around her, but it didn't seem to be a place she'd been to. Rain fell, it was dark, and there were large puddles of water. It was an unusual place, but somehow she felt a bit of warmth in it. Tat-tat. It was the sound of footsteps; someone was coming closer towards her. She turned around and saw a boy around her age, with blue eyes and spiky brown hair.  
  
"Sora!"  
  
The boy was wearing his hood, to keep his head dry. He ran towards her with a smile. Kairi ran towards him too, with her arms spread out.  
  
"Sora? Sora! It really is you! I never thought I'd see you in this weird place."  
  
The boy ran pass her, as if she was invisible. Kairi turned around and saw that the boy wasn't running to her, but towards his allies, a dog and a duck. She didn't see them before because of the rain and the darkness.  
  
'I wonder why he didn't see me.'  
  
She called out his name.  
  
"Sora! SORA!"  
  
He didn't even turn around to take a look. Not even to see who was calling him.  
  
"You lazy bum!"  
  
This time he did. Kairi was a bit surprised that he reacted to that statement. Sora pointed at her, and he walked towards her again with his allies behind him.  
  
"See, Donald, I told you we might find something here! And it's precious too!" he said.  
  
Kairi was a bit embarrassed, but she was precious to Sora, at least that's what she was thinking. But then she was unsure about why Sora called her a 'thing' instead of a person. She had a weird feeling that something was behind her, and there was. A light shone right behind her, and it was a case or chest of some sort. Sora ran over to the chest, and revealed what was hidden inside. It was a brand-new keyblade. But it gave Kairi a bad feeling. It was all black, with just its tips painted red. Not just any red, but blood red. It had a little keychain too, but the keychain was glowing with a soft and warm blue. It didn't really fit the keyblade itself, but it was there.  
  
"Alright a new keyblade!" yelled Goofy.  
  
"Whoa! It's even stronger than all my other keyblades!" said Sora.  
  
He put away the keyblade he was using, and equip the new one. Kairi didn't really think that Sora looked too good with it; maybe he'd be better off with a cute little one with a whole lot of strength. After awhile of admiring the new keyblade, something appeared right next to the chest that Sora found his new keyblade in.  
  
"What the.?" said Sora, out of pure curiosity.  
  
He knelt down, and opened that red chest with his new keyblade.  
  
"Wow, first a new blade, and now a new keychain! What a day!"  
  
Now even this new keychain gave off a glow of red. Sora pulled off the old blue one and put the new one on the keyblade, and then noticed that something was carved on the keyblade.  
  
".Sky. Hey, that's just my name, but written in hiragana!" [Author's note: In Japanese, sky is 'Sora' written in hiragana, but Sora's name is written in katakana. Yes, I did research. ^_^ ]  
  
Without another word after putting on the new keychain, the keyblade unleashed some powers of the darkness, and a stream of black light shot into Sora's right eye.  
  
"SORA!"  
  
"What's going on.? My chest, it feels like something is burning from within me, it's hurting!"  
  
Kairi ran towards him. He was aching from the pain. His right eye was bleeding, and the blood dripped onto his face. The keyblade's darkness started to surround him and cover him completely. Kairi was horrified, and by the time she reached out to give Sora some support, she went right through him and landed in a puddle of water. She didn't notice it before, but the heavy rain that came down was like nothing to her, and she didn't even get wet after falling in the puddle. She wasn't really there. She sighed in relief, because Sora wasn't really hurt, it was just a dream. But then Sora's cries made her frightened once more. It was too real to be a dream. Tears came down from her lavender coloured eyes. She was helpless at Sora's time of need. All she saw was Donald and Goofy yelling out his name, and it didn't help at all. Sora was now pitch black, and he fell into the darkness. Kairi looked up, but Sora was already gone. She stood up and screamed as loud as she could. She couldn't take it, and she fell to the ground again. She was about to lose consciousness, but before that, she could heard Sora's voice.  
  
"Kairi.?"  
  
Now she had fainted. As soon as she opened her eyes again, she was back on the warm sands of Destiny Islands. She quickly sat up, and noticed that everything was normal. She could see Selphie playing happily in the ocean, Tidus getting hit in the face by Wakka's blitzball, and Riku, who found his way back from Kingdom Hearts, staring out into the ocean. She didn't know why, but she took off her shoes, and started running towards the ocean like someone who lost sanity.  
  
"Oh! Hey Kairi! So you decided to come in for a swim after all. But you really should wear your swimsuit, white shirts and purple skirts aren't the best things to swim with." said Selphie.  
  
"Sora, he's in pain! I've got to leave Destiny Islands and save him!"  
  
"Umm. okay? I don't know what that nice nap did to you, but Kairi, Sora's fine, you know it. unless, of course, you want him to get hurt in a battle."  
  
"NO! I would never want Sora to be hurt!"  
  
"Precisely, so just go back the way you came and do whatever you were doing before."  
  
"No way, I'm going to find Sora and see if he's all right."  
  
Kairi continued her way towards the deep ends of the ocean. Then Tidus saw her running there.  
  
"Hey, Wakka, what do you think Kairi's doing?"  
  
"Probably just going in for a swim, ya. Now come on man, you said you'd help me with my aiming."  
  
"But Wakka, swimming with her kind of clothes? I seriously doubt that."  
  
"Hey, just cut the chatter and concentrate!"  
  
So Wakka threw the ball, but since Tidus was still staring at Kairi in confusion, he got hit right on the cheek. Tidus knew that there was more to come, so he ran away from Wakka. Wakka chased after him and they both ran towards the ocean. But once they got onto the sand, Tidus stopped, and Wakka's blitzball hit him on the top of his head once again.  
  
"I'm getting good at this aiming thing now, especially with your head as the target, man."  
  
"Hey, cut it out! Don't you feel a huge gust of wind here?"  
  
Now that he said it, Wakka did notice. The trees started to swing. He looked out to the ocean, and his jaw dropped.  
  
"Oh my GOD! It's a tidal wave!"  
  
"What!?"  
  
Tidus ran towards the ocean, and managed to grab Selphie out of the ocean and back on land. Selphie was confused, but she understood the situation after seeing the wave on the ocean. Tidus wanted to head for Kairi, but he was pulled back by a jerk from Selphie.  
  
"Tidus, you won't be able to reach her in time, she's too far off into the ocean!"  
  
"But then Kairi will be washed away!"  
  
The three teenagers watched as the wave came closer and closer. They prayed for Kairi to be all right. After that, they went into a cabin. When they got in, they were a little surprised to see Riku already inside. He sat on the stairs, waiting. Obviously, he felt the wind getting stronger, and came in for shelter.  
  
"Hey, so you saw that wave, huh?"  
  
"Why didn't you come and tell us?"  
  
"It doesn't matter, you're in here anyways."  
  
"Not Kairi. she's still out there, in the ocean." Selphie said with sorrow.  
  
"What? Why didn't you tell her?" Riku said in anger.  
  
Before they could finish their conversation, they could hear the huge winds slamming against the little cabin. Riku was worried, so he peeked outside. He could see that the wave was getting closer, and Kairi was swimming as fast as she could to get away from it. She got closer to the beach, but when she was about to stand up and run the rest of the way, the wave caught her. The wave came crashing down on the beach, but before Riku could see it, he had already shut the cabin door.  
  
"It got her." He announced.  
  
The others were saddened, and waited for the winds to stop. When it did, they stepped outside and headed for Kairi to see if she was hurt or not. Kairi was sitting there, all soaked, and she looked perfectly fine. But she was holding onto someone else, who was unconscious. Selphie squinted a bit, and all she could see was Kairi with a black figure. She made her way to the port, and her mouth opened and she smiled. Kairi was okay, even better than before. And the person she was with had brown hair, and was all wet because of the wave. Kairi started to cry, but it was because she was happy. She hugged the other person.  
  
"Welcome home, Sora."  
  
And after that, she bent over, and kissed the cheek of the boy with brown hair. But the unusual thing was that his right eye was covered with bandages, but Kairi had not noticed, since she was filled with joy. How she longed to see those blue eyes of his once more.  
  
"Ahh..My head." the boy said, regaining consciousness.  
  
He sat up, but was still in a bit of pain. He opened his eyes. Kairi was shocked. His eyes weren't the blue eyes that she wanted to see, they were red, at least his left eye was, since his right eye was covered. He was not Sora. His hair was brown, but they weren't spiky, it was more like Sora's hair, but without the gel to keep it spiky. He had a long black coat. And the shirt inside was also red like Sora's. He even sounded like Sora, even though the only sentence she's heard from him was "my head", which really isn't much of a sentence. Kairi was completely embarrassed, because she had kissed him on the cheek; this duplicate of Sora with red eyes, but it wasn't even Sora!  
  
"Huh? Umm. whoever you are, do you know what place this is?" said the duplicate.  
  
"Oh! Well, this is my home, it's called Destiny Islands."  
  
"What islands?"  
  
"Destiny, D-E-S-T-I-N-Y. Destiny Islands."  
  
"Never heard of it, but I've never heard of any place in the world, except for the Disney Castle."  
  
"Don't mind me asking, but what happened to your eye?" Kairi asked.  
  
"I'd rather not talk about it, besides, I don't even know you."  
  
"Oh, well, that's true."  
  
They sat there, both silent. Then the boy stood up and walked around the beach.  
  
"What a small place you have here, but I guess I have no choice but to stay here until I find a way home."  
  
"Hey, it may be small, but size doesn't matter, I'm happy here."  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Kairi, and yours?"  
  
"Me? You can call me Sky."  
  
"Your name's weird."  
  
"Hey, your name's not that normal either."  
  
Riku came running over with Tidus and Wakka behind him. Selphie came down the port, and joined them. But what surprised them was Sky.  
  
"SORA!?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"You!"  
  
"Hey, my name's not Sora, well, in a way it is, but everyone I knew called me Sky."  
  
Now it was getting confusing. Kairi had to tell them all that Sky wasn't Sora, just a look alike. He did have red eyes instead of the blue ones they were used to seeing, so everyone understood the situation. But Riku didn't believe that Sky wasn't Sora, not completely. There was still a chance his best friend was the one standing right in front of him. Just a small chance, blue eyes or not, he could feel that Sora was close by.  
  
To be continued in Chapter 1. -------------------------------------  
  
Snakey: Well, this is my first fanfic that actually was published and viewed by the public. (Well, there was this other one, but I never liked it and didn't continue.) Anyways, I thank you for reading my fanfic. I plan to continue this, so please, review and give me some support and advice. ^_^  
  
~Apr. 17, 03 


	2. Chapter 1: The Decision

Concealed By: Snakey  
  
Chapter One: The Decision  
  
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Ever since the new kid, Sky, came to Destiny Islands, Kairi has been feeling weird. Never had she thought that someone could look so identical to Sora. Sure, Sky had red eyes, but everything else was the same, besides the fact that their clothes were different. Sky wore this long black coat with a grey hood, while Sora wore a tiny one with a black and blue hood. They both had jewellery worn on their necks, but Sky had a black collar with something like a keychain attached to it. But even if Sky wasn't Sora, she felt like Sora had returned, onto the sandy beaches of Destiny Islands. It's only been a day since Sky came, and already, she's been treating him like Sora. She was so confused about why she did so, but then again, Sky did act like Sora, so it was only natural. She sat up from her thinking spot, the beach, but then noticed someone was lying right beside her the entire time.  
  
"Sky!" she yelled out.  
  
"Hey, Kairi, didn't see me, did you?"  
  
"Wh-what are you doing here?"  
  
"In case you have forgotten, I have no place to stay in, so I just wander around this tiny island."  
  
"Oh, right.. But you really should find a place to stay, like that cabin over there."  
  
"I did stay there last night to sleep, but Tidus ended up stepping on me when he came in this morning."  
  
"Oh, so now you know our names? Okay, I test your knowledge, so who's that?" she pointed at Wakka.  
  
"That's the second guy that stepped on me."  
  
"I mean his name."  
  
"Oh, I think it was Wakka or something."  
  
"Then who's that?" this time she pointed at Selphie.  
  
"Ah.. Riku?"  
  
"Riku's a guy..that's Selphie."  
  
"Oops, then that must be Riku sitting on that tree over there."  
  
"Yeah, but if you accidentally call him Selphie, he'll kick your butt."  
  
The two laughed at the thought of calling Riku Selphie, and wondered what would happen if Sky was a girl and called him Selphie.  
  
"I'm sure he'll let me go if I was a girl, I mean, guys have a soft spot when it comes to girls." Sky said, still laughing.  
  
Kairi was still laughing for awhile, but then she stopped. She looked at Sky, with his great big smile, and it was exactly the same as Sora's. Her face began to burn up, and then she realized she was blushing. Sky finished his laughing, but then he saw Kairi's face was all red.  
  
"Umm.. Kairi, are you okay? Your face is all red."  
  
"Oh! Yeah, I'm fine, just that it's hot in the sun."  
  
"You've got a point, I mean, I'm wearing this huge coat and I'm burning up because it's black!"  
  
He had to take off his coat. But then when he turned around, Kairi had left. It seems that Kairi still had a bit of a problem with people taking off their clothes in front of her, especially if that person was male. Kairi was hiding, but then realized how stupid it was to hide because of it, and headed towards Sky again.  
  
"Kairi?" Sky said.  
  
"Oh, I just..I just went into the shade to cool off a bit."  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
"Hey Sky, didn't you need to find a place to live in?"  
  
"Yeah, I was thinking of building one, but that would take forever."  
  
The rest of the people came and overheard their conversation.  
  
"Hey, Sky. You two are talking about a place for Sky to stay, right?" Selphie asked.  
  
"Hey, I'm always welcoming a newbie in my house!" Wakka said happily.  
  
"But Wakka, your house is so packed with blitzball stuff. The last time I came to sleepover, I had to sleep on the kitchen table." Tidus said, bringing back some memories.  
  
"My folks won't even let Sora and Kairi come, so I can't help.." Riku pointed out.  
  
"Who's Sora?" Sky asked.  
  
Now everyone was silenced by that question. It was hard to talk about it, especially in front of Kairi. They didn't know how to say it without mentioning Sora hasn't come back for half a year. But Kairi knew that she had to overcome the fear of Sora not coming back, so she decided to explain it.  
  
"Sora is a boy on Destiny Islands, who has been chosen by the keyblade to defeat the heartless and save all worlds."  
  
"Then where is he?"  
  
"..I do not know.. He was supposed to come back, right after he saved us all."  
  
"Is he famous?"  
  
"In a way, he is. And he looks exactly like you, but his hair was spiky, and he had blue eyes."  
  
"Bl-blue ones?" Sky said, with a bit of fear.  
  
"Yes, blue ones."  
  
"Umm..okay.. Let's get back to talking about where I should stay."  
  
Without another word, every stuck out their index fingers and pointed at Kairi.  
  
"You should stay with Kairi, she lives alone in a big house, and she can cook." Tidus said.  
  
"Yeah, she's even got an extra bed and a bedroom." said Selphie.  
  
"Is it okay with you, Kairi?" Sky asked.  
  
"Yeah, but I hope you don't mind living in a very girly house."  
  
"I don't mind, then it's settled, I'll live with Kairi."  
  
Kairi stood up and helped Sky up too. They walked towards Kairi's house, and started a tour. Tidus and Selphie followed along to help. Wakka went home to practice his blitz skills, and Riku sat on the paopu tree to stare at the ocean. Kairi opened her door. It was all white with a sign on it that said: 'Kairi's house. Knock before you come in'. Inside her house were white walls, and a staircase that led up to her carpeted second floor. Her house had two levels. Kairi went to the empty room upstairs and showed it to Sky. Tidus and Selphie were opening the doors of the other rooms to make it easier to have a tour.  
  
"Here's your room, Sky."  
  
"Whoa.. It's so roomy. And it's even got a window facing the ocean! What a place!"  
  
"My room is right next door, so you could knock when you need something, but make sure I'm in it."  
  
They made their way to the kitchen. It was so shiny and clean. Kairi opened the fridge, but realized she was at a shortage of food. Sky was staring at all the things she had, and Tidus and Selphie told him where all the supplies were. They knew Kairi's house quite well because they always played in it on windy days. After the tour, it was already getting dark, so Tidus and Selphie went home, and left the two there, alone. Kairi wanted to prepare a small dinner since she was lacking food, but Sky insisted that he would go and fetch some fish from the ocean to eat. And so he did, but Kairi wanted to help, so she followed. The two fourteen year olds went into the ocean, and started to walk around barefooted in the water.  
  
"Did you bring something to lure the fish?" Kairi asked politely.  
  
"No."  
  
"What? Then how are you going to catch the fish?"  
  
"Sora never needed any bait when he was catching fish for you."  
  
"....How.... how did you know that?"  
  
"Oh! Umm.. well I just guessed! That's all!" he smiled a bit, but it looked like he forced it out.  
  
"I see.."  
  
A lot of fish started to swim around in front of them, and every time Sky saw one, he would quickly scoop it up with his hands. Kairi on the other hand, didn't get the hang of it until Sky gave her a few pointers. They were having so much fun, that they overdid it and got too many fish that could last a whole week. Kairi decided to get a bucket from her house to hold the fish, so she ran home. But when she got to her doorstep, there was a large black figure there, covered by strips of dark energy. The figure turned around and saw Kairi with its yellow eyes. Kairi was so frightened that she started to run back towards the beach, but the figure jumped and landed in front of her. She jerked herself to turn to her left, but the figure blocked her way. The only choice she had was to run inside her house, but the figure was still chasing her. She was too frightened to actually think of an escape route, so she just ran upstairs and away from the dark figure.  
  
'Why is it chasing me? Is that a heartless!?"  
  
Sky was sitting on there beach, but grew impatient. So he took off his coat, and gathered all the fish in it and made his way back to Kairi's house. Kairi was screaming whenever she saw the figure appear before her, and her screams seemed to have been heard by all her friends, including Sky.  
  
"Kairi!"  
  
Sky could see Kairi being chased by the figure through the window. He dropped the fish and started running towards that white house while putting on his coat. When he opened the door, it grabbed the dark figure's attention. It jumped down to the first floor and landed in front of Sky. Sky started to back away, but he smiled, as if he wanted it to attack him. He spread out his arms and closed his eyes. He stood there, silenced. The figure charged at him, but red light shone from Sky's body, and sent the figure slamming against the floor. Kairi watched in disbelief, and watched the boy's bandaged eye glowed underneath and gathered up red light. The figure knew there was more to come, and left through a black and purple portal. Sky's right eye started to shine with the brightest red light, and the bandages came off. Kairi watched as the bandages came off, revealing his right eye. She was shocked. Sky didn't have red eyes, he had one red eye. His right eye was the colour that Kairi longed to see, the ones she had hoped to see when they first met after the wave. She came downstairs slowly, and when she reached the first floor, she stopped and stared at his face, trying to confirm her analysis.  
  
"Sora?"  
  
Sky heard the name, and covered his right eye with his hand. He stood up, and turned to Kairi.  
  
"Sky, are you Sora?"  
  
"No, why would I be?"  
  
"Tell me the truth!"  
  
But he did not answer her; instead, he backed away from her and ran out the door. Kairi was right about her analysis. Sky's right eye wasn't red, it was blue. Blue, like Sora's eyes were. There was nothing wrong with it, but he still put bandages over it. She walked towards the door, picked up his white strips of bandages, and headed outside. When she got there, she saw Riku, and behind him were Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. They had heard her cries, and came to see if she was all right.  
  
"Are you okay, Kairi?" Riku asked.  
  
"Not really, I was chased by a dark figure."  
  
"A heartless!?" Tidus yelled out.  
  
"I'm not sure, but Sky defeated it with magic or something."  
  
"Sky can use magic? Is he a black mage?" Selphie asked.  
  
"How would I know? But afterwards his bandages fell, and I saw his right eye.."  
  
Kairi stopped the chatting, and ran towards the beach where Sky had stopped. She slowly walked towards him when she was about two metres away. Sky was still covering his right eye. Kairi patted him on the shoulder, and he turned around.  
  
"Here, I got your bandages." She said, handing him the white strips.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
He wrapped it around his right eye, and decided that they should head home. Everyone else had left Kairi's house, except Riku. He stayed a little longer and watched the two come back. After he saw that everything was fine, he made his way home. Kairi was silent for the entire trip. She kept thinking of the blue right eye. But she didn't want to ask Sky about it, since he didn't like talking about his right eye. But besides that it was blue, Kairi was still wondering why it was glowing and gathering energy. Sky opened the door of the house, but saw that they had company. The dark figure was back, but this time it was holding onto a sword. He wanted his revenge on Sky. His grip on his sword seemed to tighten, and he rushed towards the two teens.  
  
"Get back, Kairi!" Sky said sticking out his arm in front of her.  
  
Sky was standing there, while the figure came rushing at them. His right eye started to glow again.  
  
"Kairi, you should close your eyes, until I tell you to open them."  
  
And so she did. She could hear a lot of noises, but most of them sounded like screams from the figure and sounds of it slamming against the wall. But one of the sounds was different, sort of like a bell, no, a keychain. It could have been the one on Sky's collar, but she knew how that one sounded, and this was not the sound. After awhile, the noises stopped, and Sky told her to open her eyes. The dark figure was gone.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I defeated it. Turns out it was a heartless."  
  
"A heartless! Then they're back!?"  
  
"No, I think it's just that one that managed to escape."  
  
"Oh.."  
  
Kairi wasn't sure what to say now. She wanted to ask about the keychain sounds, but he'd probably just say it come from his collar's keychain. Kairi prepared to cook, and Sky went back to pick up the fish. They had a nice meal, but it was unusually quiet, but there was nothing to say. After the meal, Kairi went into the bathroom to take a bath. When she came out, she noticed Sky was in his room.  
  
"I know, I almost blew it, but everything's fine, and now I know you."  
  
Kairi peeked into his room, and realized that he was staring at the mirror. But since it was rude to peek into someone's bedroom, she knocked on the door.  
  
"It's your turn to take a bath, and I'll take your coat downstairs for a wash, it smells like fish."  
  
"Oh, thanks Kairi."  
  
For the rest of the night, they were both quiet and prepared to go to bed. When it was morning, Kairi was still thinking about Sky's eye. So she decided to talk about it with Selphie, the only other girl on the island. But before that, she had to cook breakfast for two. She flipped the pancakes, and poured the milk. She ate her own breakfast, but then realized that Sky was still sleeping. She went upstairs to call him.  
  
"Sky, it's already morning, you should.."  
  
Sky wasn't in bed. But then she heard some voices coming from outside. There he was. He was holding on to half a dozen coconuts.  
  
"I thought you might need to fill up your fridge."  
  
Kairi helped him with the coconuts, and they sat down at the kitchen table as Sky ate his breakfast.  
  
"Kairi, I think I'm going to start on finding a way home." He said, finishing the last bit of milk.  
  
"But you've just settled in on Destiny Islands!"  
  
"I shouldn't stay here forever though; people are waiting for me back home."  
  
"What's your home like?"  
  
"My home..I don't know.. I can't remember. But I know someone's there, calling for me."  
  
Kairi stopped the subject right after that. She remembered how sad it was to not remember how your own home was like. She had had that experience before.  
  
"I'll help you find it too!" she yelled.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"I can't let you go by yourself! We're friends! We help each other when we need it most!"  
  
"Okay, thanks Kairi."  
  
"But starting tomorrow, we have to train and sharpen our fighting skills, you never know what's going to attack us, and I'll go ask the others to help you too!"  
  
She went outside, leaving Sky to wash his dish. While he washed, he started talking to himself.  
  
"You were right, she is kind and gentle."  
  
To be continued in Chapter 2..  
  
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Snakey: Finally starting on the adventure! _ Sorry if the last part of the chapter started to get you bored, but I had to find a way for him to start his journey! Anyways, thank you for reading, and please review. ^_^ ~Apr. 20, 03 


	3. Chapter 2: The Gathering

Concealed By: Snakey  
  
Chapter Two: The Gathering  
  
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Kairi stepped outside to her door step, and the first one she saw was Riku using his wooden sword to hit the coconut trees. She thought she'd go and ask him to help her out with finding Sky's home.  
  
"Hey! That tree's going to fall on you if you don't stop!" she yelled from behind.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Right when Riku turned around, a coconut fell on his head, and he fell over.  
  
"Oww.. You didn't purposely distract me, did you?"  
  
"Hey, if it was meant to be, then that coconut is a part of destiny."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind, Riku, are you doing anything important, nowadays?"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
"Great!"  
  
"You're saying wasting my time doing nothing is great?"  
  
"No, it's just that if you're not busy, I can get you to train with Sky and I!"  
  
"Training? For what?"  
  
"I want to go on a journey!"  
  
"To find Sora?"  
  
"To find Sky's home, and maybe find Sora on the way.."  
  
"Fine, but I'm coming with you!"  
  
"Suit yourself!"  
  
She finished, and jumped down onto the sand and asked Tidus to join her.  
  
"A journey, really?"  
  
"Hey, so you're coming or not?"  
  
"I'm going for sure! There's nothing to do lately."  
  
"Oh, could you tell Wakka to join too?"  
  
"Sure, why not?"  
  
"Thank you!"  
  
Now all that was left was to get Selphie and train. And then she just remembered about Sky's eye. She thought she'd better not tell her, since she'd probably go to Tidus for advice, and then it'll spread.  
  
"Hi, Selphie!"  
  
"Oh, hi, Kairi."  
  
She began with her request, and Selphie, who didn't want to be alone on the island, answered quickly with an 'OF COURSE!'. Now she had to tell Sky the good news. She went home and opened the door. Sky was still washing. She didn't want him to stop, so she just opened the fridge quietly and got a coconut. She wanted to go upstairs to her room with him noticing.  
  
"If you're too quiet, I might think you're a thief and accidentally hurt you."  
  
"Oh! You noticed!"  
  
"Yup, so, why are you so quiet?"  
  
"Everyone agreed to help you on our journey! I didn't want to tell you until you finished, but oh well."  
  
"Wow, thanks Kairi."  
  
"You're welcome! So you better clean that plate so it shines!"  
  
"No problem, I'll even make tonight's dinner!"  
  
"You can cook?"  
  
"If it's easy enough, then it's alright."  
  
"Can I invite the others?"  
  
"Sure, why not."  
  
"Okay, then I'll go out again."  
  
"I'll come too, I'm done anyways."  
  
So they went outside to tell everyone, saying that it was a "last meal before suffering from training". They were to be at Kairi's house when the sun sets. This would give them enough time to prepare.  
  
"You sure you can cook for this many people, Sky?"  
  
"Hey, if I can't, they'll have to eat your canned foods."  
  
"I'm not sure they'll like it, I'll have to do some cooking too."  
  
"Hey, relax, Kairi. I'll manage somehow."  
  
"Okay.."  
  
Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka, were the first guests to arrive. Then Riku came, carrying some extra plates for everyone.  
  
"Kairi, you've got to borrow from someone else for once."  
  
"But you've known me for the longest time, and you live closer to me."  
  
"Don't break them this time."  
  
"Meany."  
  
The table was set, and all they needed now was food. Nobody ate their lunches except for Wakka, since he just finished practicing and grew hungry. They were all lying on the table, face down. How long did it take Sky to finish? Kairi wanted to check, but when she was getting close to the door, she could smell the wonderful smell of fried fish, and maybe eggs too. Sky opened the door, and it hit Kairi.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Kairi! What are you doing standing here?"  
  
"..Um..Nothing."  
  
"Okay, you can eat now!"  
  
The others saw the food. It looked horrible, but it smelled great. Everyone lifted up their utensils, and started to dig in. Delicious, it was. Sky was eating, and saw the happy faces on his new friends. He smiled, glad that his friends were enjoying it. Who would have thought that such simple foods could taste so good? After eating, Kairi thought that Sora could never make a meal like this, so she threw away her analysis she made before. It was getting late, but everyone was so full that they had to stay to rest a bit from eating. Sky cleaned the table, even though it was Kairi's job. Everyone lied on Kairi's couch. But Riku sat up. He sensed something. It was darkness of some sort, but he wasn't sure who it was. Sky stopped his cleaning, and looked up to the ceiling. A black portal appeared on the white ceiling, and dark figures escaped from it. This time there were five of them. Everyone stood up, and watched as the figures landed in front of Sky. They each had swords, but one of them had chains instead.  
  
"Who are they?" Riku asked.  
  
"I think they're heartless." Kairi answered.  
  
"They want to avenge their ally." Sky announced.  
  
All five of the figures charged at Sky. Sky jumped up into the air and landed behind them. He grabbed a fork from the table, and threw it at one of the figures. The fork was broken once it touched the figure. Sky looked for more weapons, but the best thing he could see was Tidus' stick. Riku ran towards the figures and backed up Sky. Tidus and the others came along too. It was an equal match, with five against five. Kairi ran upstairs, but still watched as her friends fought. All Selphie did was throw things at the figure, Tidus distracted the figures so Wakka could hit them from behind, and Riku had his own way of fighting. Sky just stood in the middle of nowhere as the figures rushed at him, and all he did was blast them away with his barrier. There it was the glowing right eye. Kairi was so busy watching the battle, she forgot to watch herself. And right on top of her on the ceiling, a sixth figure dropped down. This caught Kairi by surprise, and she screamed and ran for her life.  
  
"Kairi!" yelled Sky and Riku.  
  
Sky lost his concentration, and his barrier broke. The figure used this chance, and charged at Sky with all his might. Sky was sent flying into the air, and hit the wall behind him. Riku wanted to help Sky and Kairi, but the figure wouldn't let him pass through. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie couldn't hold them back for much longer, so they ran upstairs to protect Kairi instead. Sky recovered, and stuck out his left hand. A shining red keyhole appeared on it. He started to use his left hand to cast magic spells like fire and blizzard on the figures. But since Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were busy protecting Kairi, the three figures they were fighting went after Sky. Sky stuck out his left hand in front of one figure, and the keyhole shot out constant fireballs at it. After that, the figure dissolved and the little bits were gathered back to the black portal. Now only five were left. Riku was knocked down by the figure, and it started towards Sky too. The four figures worked together, and attacked Sky all at once. Sky let out his barrier, and they fell to the ground. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie finally defeated the figure that attacked Kairi by constantly hitting it with their weapons, so they went back down to support Sky and Riku. Riku tried to come after the figures, but he hit something invisible and couldn't reach them. It seems that the figures made a barrier of their own to keep him out.  
  
"Sky, are you doing well?" Kairi asked as soon as she saw Riku hit the barrier.  
  
"I don't think he can hear you." Riku replied.  
  
"But.."  
  
"He's on his own." Wakka said.  
  
Kairi watched the figures trying to get to Sky, and one of them managed to do so. It used its magic and broke Sky's barrier, and it slashed Sky's left hand. The keyhole shatters, and now the figures could all get to him. The one with the chains threw those, and Sky was now tied up. The figures walked up to him, about to attack him so he will be forever gone. Sky stared at them in anger, and his right eye shined even brighter. He stared at them, and suddenly the figures were shot by a red strip of light that came from above. Everyone looked shocked. All he did was look, and the figures were shot. How did he do that? They didn't know. Sky ran away from the figures.  
  
"I'm going to take the fight outside, since fighting in here might ruin the house!" he said as he ran outside.  
  
"I'm going to fight too!" Riku yelled.  
  
"No, you can't! Trust me!"  
  
Riku stayed at his place in confusion, and didn't bother to run after him.  
  
"He never said anything about not watching!" Selphie said, and ran outside.  
  
Everyone followed her except Riku. He was still thinking about what he said. Sky was on the beach, but it was getting dark, and it would cause a disadvantage for Sky. But something wasn't quite right. Sky only hit the figures when they were going to attack, as if he was taking it slowly. When the sky was completely darkened, Kairi and the others started to worry, and then Riku came out to see the fight. Sky went over to the darkest part of the beach when he realized it was dark, and the figures followed. Kairi wasn't able to see them anymore, and neither could anyone else. After awhile, Selphie saw the red keyhole appear, and a red glow on top of it. The keyhole was brought up to the red glow, and it started to shine. This hurt Selphie's eyes, and she turned around. Kairi continues her staring, and Riku did as well. Tidus and Wakka weren't too into it, so they decided to turn around instead of causing pain to their eyes. After the light finished with the shining, there were no longer two red glows, but only one. The other one was now blue. Kairi watched the glows move around, and then she saw that one of the figures had come out of the darkness. She could only make out a bit of the figure's shape, and it was Sky. Kairi looked even closer, and saw the blue glow coming from his right eye. The red glow wasn't from his left hand though, it was something else. It wasn't from Sky's body, but something that he had been holding. The red glow moved about like an object that was attached to something else on a string. She saw it. On Sky's right hand was a key, super large key. It was a keyblade.  
  
"So, is it over yet?" Selphie asked.  
  
"I have no idea, Selphie." Riku replied.  
  
The glows vanished, and then Sky runs back towards them. His lips were moving, but no one could hear what he was saying.  
  
"Thanks, I didn't think I was going to manage." Sky said to himself.  
  
Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka had to explain to their parents why they were so late now, and Riku just went home without a care in the world. Sky and Kairi went back inside, and started the clean-up.  
  
"Thanks for getting rid of those guys, Sky." Kairi said.  
  
"Hey, it's part of training, I guess." He replied.  
  
"But Sky, I thought you said those were escaped heartless."  
  
"Turns out they're not, but I think someone is trying to duplicate the heartless."  
  
"And plunge the worlds into darkness, right?"  
  
"You know more than you think you do, Kairi." He said, with a smile.  
  
They prepared for bed once again and waited for morning. But Kairi had a dream again. It was like the one she had the day she met Sky. The darkness, the rain, and the puddles of water. She had hated this dream that caused her pain. Why? Why did she have this dream again? She did not want to remember how pathetic she was when Sora was in trouble. But then, it was because of this dream, that she could even see Sora. Kairi looked down at her feet in her dream, it was still dry. She looked back up, but she couldn't see Sora this time, but Donald and Goofy, attached to the walls by vines with thorns on it. They were unconscious, and their clothes were partially torn away. It could have been the rain or something, but she didn't care. Even if she did, what could Kairi do? Nothing, that's what, nothing but cry over their pain and suffering. She wasn't even there. This place wasn't real, and neither were this Donald and Goofy. They were all a part of a realistic dream. She went back to the place where Sora found a new keyblade, and there was Sora, lying there on the ground. 'He just another illusion, and a part of my dream' she thought to herself. But after all, it was Sora, so she couldn't leave him there. He walked up to him, wet her finger with saliva, and put it near his nose. She couldn't feel anything. He wasn't even breathing. She looked at Sora's face. He was no longer of the worlds. He was gone. 'It's not real. He's not really dead, just a part of my dream' she thought again. But she cried anyway, because it was Sora. Sora. She couldn't put it aside. If this wasn't a dream, she'd probably be so sad that she would have lost the will to live on. A flash of light shone from Sora's body, and her vision was blurred. She was awakening. She opened her eyes. She saw Sky's face right away.  
  
"Whoa! What are you doing here?"  
  
"You were tossing in your sleep, and you even cried." Sky said, wiping off the tear from her left eye.  
  
"But it still doesn't give you a right to come into a girl's room. I mean, what if I was changing?"  
  
"I don't think you'd change with your door open, Kairi."  
  
"Well, now I need to change, so can you make breakfast?"  
  
"Sure, and don't worry, I won't peek." He finished his announcement, and walked shut the door, laughing.  
  
Kairi felt like throwing her pillow at him, but he escaped too quickly. It was another day, and she had to start some training. She had to find a good weapon to use, since she was the only one with no fighting skills at all. Even Selphie had a skipping rope. She started going through her closet, and began her search.  
  
To be continued in Chapter 3..  
  
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Snakey: Yay~! Chapter 2 up! I really should do some pictures for this Fanfiction. ^_^U Well, training is starting, and I think I'll be putting in a LOT of humour there. ^^ And thanks for reading, and please, do review! ^_^ ~Apr. 24, 03 


	4. Chapter 3: The Training

Concealed By: Snakey  
  
Chapter Three: The Training  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
It's been quite awhile now, and Kairi still couldn't find the thing she needed. The only thing that came close to a weapon in her closet was a rope or a tennis racket. She wanted something she could use well, so both of them didn't fit the category. Sky gave her a few suggestions, like finding something that's big, or just look outside. She decided to ask the others for help, so she went over to Selphie's place to search. Selphie found all the stuff that she would lend Kairi, and put them all in a cardboard box. Kairi couldn't even believe the stuff she saw had once belonged to Selphie. She saw a bunch of broken skip ropes, a baseball bat that was all chipped, a broken stuffed doll, a broken wooden hammer that was the size of Kairi's index finger, and even a punching bag that had holes in it. It was basically garbage. Kairi didn't have too many choices, so she tried creating one from all the stuff she saw.  
  
"Can I tie all your broken skip ropes together?" she asked politely.  
  
"Sure, they're not used anymore anyways."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Kairi started tying, and she ended up with a long whip. [Author's note: Think of the one Quistis uses, but made of broken skip ropes.] She thought she'd test it out on Riku, since he had great fighting skills. Riku was on the port, watching Tidus and Wakka fight like little kids. He didn't get much pleasure from it, but at least he had something to do. He would think of some comments in his mind, and talk to himself about the odds of Tidus winning against Wakka. Sky came out too, and sat down beside Riku. She walked over to them.  
  
"Riku, could you fight against me? I just got a new weapon."  
  
"But Kairi, that's just a piece of rope."  
  
"It's a whip."  
  
"Fine, but only one match, and I'll go easy on you, since I don't hit girls."  
  
"Don't be afraid, I need you to be my practice partner."  
  
"You mean punching bag."  
  
"A bit like that, but not really."  
  
"I'll watch out for you, Kairi, I can help you by casting Cure." Sky said, hearing the entire conversation between them.  
  
"Thanks, Sky."  
  
Kairi held her so called whip and walk away about three or four metres away from Riku on the beach. Sky stood between them, watching.  
  
"And on your mark, get set, GO!"  
  
The match started. Kairi ran towards Riku, who was standing there and didn't move, not even a bit. Kairi swung her whip, hoping it would hit Riku. Unfortunately, she missed. But what she did hit was Wakka's head, and he was fighting with Tidus right next to them. Wakka fell over, in pain.  
  
"Alright, Wakka lost to me in a fair match!" Tidus screamed out with joy.  
  
"FAIR!? You call that fair!? You weren't even the one who hit me!"  
  
"So, I still win!"  
  
"Oh, c'mon, your only time hitting me was when your stick fell out of your hand and I tripped over it! It didn't even count as a hit!"  
  
Kairi looked at the two boys arguing, feeling sorry that she had caused so much trouble between them. But she had her own match to deal with. Riku was still standing there as if nothing would happen to him, and this made Kairi get mad. He just played it cool, and knew that she wouldn't even make him budge even the slightest bit. Sky looked at him, with a bit of an unpleasant look. Kairi tried her whip once more, and she did even worst than before. It wasn't even close to hitting him. She knew that she would get it next time, so she thrusted. She did hit someone, and that someone was a boy, but not Riku. The whip's end hit Sky's face, and Sky covered his face with his hands.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"  
  
Kairi couldn't tell if it was serious or not. Sky let go, and he touched the part that the whip had hit him on the face. There was something on it, and it popped up. Kairi didn't know if she should apologize or help him. It seemed that he was bleeding.  
  
"Whoa, you okay?" Riku asked.  
  
"Ah man.. I'm bleeding."  
  
"I'll get you a bandage!" Kairi ran off towards her house, leaving her funny looking rope or whip behind.  
  
"I don't want more bandages though; I'll look like a mummy.."  
  
"At least your brown hair's still sticking out."  
  
Sky stroked his brown hair, as if he had forgotten that they were there. He looked at Riku, and started to think to himself for a moment. Riku didn't seem like a scary person at all. Sky's first impression of him was that he was a bully or something since he had those narrow green eyes that made him look mad. Riku soon realized that there was an uncomfortable feeling around him, and he turned and saw Sky staring. When Sky realized that he was staring at Riku without knowing it, they quickly turned the other way, avoiding eye contact. They didn't seem to have much in common, so there wasn't much conversation either, just an unusual silence.  
  
"Uh.. Riku?"  
  
"What now?"  
  
"Oh, um, didn't mean to annoy you, but how come you're not going with Kairi?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You two seem like a couple."  
  
"What the..!" Riku blushed as he replied.  
  
"What? You two aren't a couple?"  
  
"Where did you get that stupid idea?"  
  
"What is so stupid about that?"  
  
"Well, why would we be?"  
  
"But you're always so nice and gentle to her; I just thought that you two might be more than just ordinary friends."  
  
"Look, you're new here, so I'll fill you in with the past events."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"You heard about Sora, right? Well, he and I are best friends, and then Kairi came along. And we had all these troubles and Sora saves the worlds with his keyblade."  
  
"I know that much."  
  
"Well, after that, Sora was separated from Kairi, and I was locked away with the heartless."  
  
"What? Locked? How'd you.."  
  
"Let's not get into that. Anyways, when we were separated, Kairi developed feelings for Sora, and Sora did as well, at least, that's what I think. And I.. I liked Kairi long before that, even when we were just little kids. But the point is Kairi's not going to accept me. The one she's waiting for is Sora."  
  
"That's not completely true, I mean, you haven't asked her about it."  
  
"Are you kidding? Speaking of Sora makes Kairi burst into tears!"  
  
"Oh, she's that sensitive.."  
  
"I didn't think she was ever going to stop crying the last time I mentioned Sora in front of her."  
  
"So, I've caused you this much pain." Sky whispered, and Riku just barely heard part of it.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Riku, I'm sorry for everything.."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
Right then, Sky's left red eye started to change in colour. He slapped it with his hand, and shook his head to get rid of a weird feeling he had.  
  
"Sky?"  
  
"Oh, never mind."  
  
"I got you a bandage, Sky!" Kairi yelled as she came running towards the two boys.  
  
"Thanks, Kairi."  
  
"Wait! You're not planning to just put it on your wound, are you?"  
  
"I don't see why not."  
  
"I've got some alcohol that needs to be rubbed on it; it'll help it heal faster."  
  
She opened the bottle, and put some onto a piece of cotton. She held onto Sky's chin, and started to rub against the wound.  
  
"It stings! Ah!"  
  
"Hold still!"  
  
Kairi had a hard time holding him down, and didn't know that she applied TOO much on his cheek. After Sky started to calm down, he was let go of by Tidus and Wakka, who Kairi told to help hold Sky down. Sky's cheek was all red, and you could tell that Kairi overdid it. She laughed at her own work, and put the bandage on his face. They all looked at his face. It was full of bandages, and it looked a bit like someone just beat up Sky.  
  
"You look like you got beat up by Riku." Selphie said, coming down onto the beach after she ate her lunch.  
  
"Why do you think it was Riku?" Sky asked.  
  
"Well, Riku's always the one to beat us in fights, so maybe he did it to you too."  
  
"Hey, I just got hit by Kairi, that's all."  
  
"Did she slap you or something?"  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"We were fighting, and Kairi missed me and hit Sky on the face." Riku said, clearing things up.  
  
"That's it? It would have been more interesting if she did slap him though."  
  
"Selphie!" Everyone yelled.  
  
"What? There's so little to do anyways.. Can't we just start our journey now?"  
  
"Kairi still needs to get a new weapon." Tidus said.  
  
Sky picked up the whip, and examined it for awhile.  
  
"Kairi, this whip is way too long for you to thrust and hit the right target."  
  
"Really? No wonder I couldn't hit Riku.."  
  
"I have something that you might be able to use."  
  
He put his hand into his pocket, and grabbed out a slingshot.  
  
"It's my spare weapon. You could use it."  
  
"Thanks, Sky."  
  
Kairi picked up a rock, and put it on the elastic band as she stretched it out. She aimed at the coconut on the tree nearby. She let go, and the rock hit the coconut directly.  
  
"Hooray! Kairi got a new weapon that she could use!" Selphie cried with joy.  
  
"Not really, I was aiming at the coconut on the tree to the right of it."  
  
"Oh. At least it was close."  
  
She tried again, and this time she aimed at a larger object. Riku.  
  
"Kairi, you're not really going to hit me, are you?"  
  
"Stand still. I'm going for the head."  
  
"What!?"  
  
She let go of the band, and the rock went flying at Riku. Riku didn't have much of a choice, so he ducked, and the rock hit Sky who was right behind him.  
  
"Oh dear.." Selphie said.  
  
"Another hit by Kairi." Tidus added.  
  
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Sky! I was aiming at Riku, I swear!"  
  
"Ow.. My forehead.."  
  
Another bandage was added onto Sky's face, and now he looked really beat up. His face was completely covered except for his mouth and his nose. But Kairi continued her aiming skills, and it added more and more scars onto Sky's face..  
  
"I think you should stop, Kairi." Tidus said when he saw the sun setting.  
  
"Sky's face is already completely covered." Wakka said.  
  
Kairi looked at her new friend, and all she could see on his face was his left red eye. She was embarrassed when she realized how many times she hit his face. Selphie actually counted the number of times.  
  
"Ten times, and that's not including the one with the whip."  
  
Kairi decided that she had practiced enough for that one day, so she and Sky went back to the house. The others went home too. She wanted to say something to Sky so that she wouldn't feel as guilty as she did right now. She hit him about ten times, and every time he would just smile back and say "It's all right, I've gotten used to it." She didn't know if she should tell Sky to hit her back or not. But then if she did, Sky would probably not hit her anyways, since Kairi gave him hospitality and she was a girl. They arrived at the door, and Kairi opened it for Sky. They had an ordinary chat about what they were going to take on the journey, and then Kairi started dinner. Sky sat down, and started taking off the bandages, just so he could eat without anything in his way. He took every piece off, even the one around his right eye, as if he didn't know. Kairi put the food down on the table, and was surprised to see that Sky took off the bandage covering his right eye. She stared at it, and it was red. She started to get confused. Last time she was sure that his right eye was blue. She looks even harder, but it's still red.  
  
"Is there something wrong, Kairi?"  
  
"Your right eye.."  
  
"Oh, I just took off the bandage for today, it was getting really hot."  
  
"No, not that, but it is red."  
  
"Why wouldn't it be?"  
  
"I swear that the first time I saw your bandage coming off, it was blue."  
  
"A red eye and a blue eye, are you sure, Kairi?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Oh well, let's just eat, and maybe later you could tell me the rest."  
  
"Okay.."  
  
Kairi quickly finished her meal, and saw that Sky was still eating slowly. She stares at his bowl as he finishes the last bit of soup. He wiped his mouth, and Kairi stood up quickly, grabs Sky's hand, runs upstairs, and throws Sky into her room. She sits in her chair as Sky falls down onto her bed.  
  
"Okay, I've been thinking about that right eye of yours ever since you came to my house, Sky."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because, I thought it was blue, and I thought that somehow, you were Sora!"  
  
"Wait, are you being so nice to me because I look like him?"  
  
"No, it's just that I really miss him because I really like him!"  
  
"Wow, how straight forward of you, Kairi."  
  
Kairi blushed, and covered her mouth so nothing else could come out.  
  
"You really want to see him again, don't you, Kairi?"  
  
"Yeah.."  
  
"I think I know how."  
  
"How, Sky?"  
  
"Close your eyes."  
  
"Um..okay.."  
  
"Don't open them, because if you do, he might not be here."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Just don't open your eyes until I tell you to."  
  
Kairi covered her closed eyes with her hands.  
  
'You okay with this?' Sky thought to himself.  
  
His left hand starts to shine, and a keyhole appears. He closes his eyes, and counted to five. He opens them again, and now his right eye was blue, and his left eye was purple. He put his left hand over his right eye, and a black object comes out of it. He grabs the black object, and it was actually a keyblade, with only the tips of it was painted with blood red. Sky took off the keychain attached to his collar, and removed the one on the keyblade. He switched the two key chains around, and put his onto the keyblade.  
  
'Thanks, I'll just take five minutes or so.' Sky thought to himself again.  
  
"You can open your eyes now, Kairi."  
  
Kairi did as she was told, and she saw the boy. He held the keyblade, and started to talk.  
  
"Hey, Kairi, didn't you want to see me?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Didn't you want to see Sora?"  
  
"Sora? What are you saying, Sky?"  
  
"Look closely."  
  
He sat on the bed, and waved his hand to tell Kairi to move closer. Kairi stood up, and slowly walked over to him. She stares at him, from top to bottom, but she didn't really see the difference.  
  
"Try the face."  
  
Kairi looked at it, and she was shocked to see that the eyes were blue, but the left one was purpler than blue. She drew her hands up to her mouth, and tears started to come down her cheek.  
  
"Sora!"  
  
She couldn't hold it in, and she threw herself onto him.  
  
"Whoa!"  
  
Sora couldn't stay up with all that force pushing against him, and he fell down on the bed with Kairi wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. He put his hand on the back of her head, and patted her.  
  
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Sora said, closing his eyes and smiling towards the ceiling.  
  
"You lazy bum.." Kairi whispered, still crying on top of Sora.  
  
'If only it was this simple..' He thought.  
  
To be continued in Chapter 4..  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Snakey: Okay, there wasn't as much humour as I thought there would be, and I'm sorry about that. But at least now you know more about Sora and Sky. ^_^ I'll try to do more typing, but in the mean time, I have to get on with studies. Thank you for reading, and review if you like it! ^_^  
  
~May 1st, 03 


	5. Chapter 4: Forget

Concealed By: Snakey  
  
Chapter Four: Forget  
  
Extra Notice: There are more thoughts in this chapter, so make sure you don't mistake the thoughts ('') for the speeches ("").  
  
P.S: I didn't spend as much time on this as I used to, so there might be some mistakes, so I hope you understand them. _  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Sora and Kairi lied on Kairi's bed, both silent, except for Kairi's sobbing noises. Kairi could stop, but tried and just made it worst. She started to hiccup, and then tried holding her breath so it would stop. Now she was basically in her own world. Sora looked at her as she was covering her mouth with her hand, with her cheeks all puffed up. Kairi finally stopped, but just realized she was still holding on to Sora, who was staring at her with his blue eyes. His mouth opened with a smile, and she smiled back with a slight blush. But then Sora burst out in laughter, and he was laughing so hard that you could see the tears come out of his blue eyes.  
  
"Hey! What's so funny?" Kairi demanded.  
  
"You should have seen yourself when you held your breath, it was so cute!"  
  
"Me? Cute?" She looked at him with eyes that told him she wanted an answer. And it had to be a good one.  
  
"Umm.. Yeah, Kairi.. You were cute.." He looked back at her, but you could tell by her facial expression that Sora chose the wrong answer.  
  
"Oh.. Okay.."  
  
"Hey, you are cute, Kairi! You're the cutest girl I've ever met!"  
  
"Name the girls that you've met."  
  
"Selphie, Alice, Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine, Tinker bell.. Okay, let's just say I've met many."  
  
"Well, I guess.." She started to look a bit disappointed, so Sora had to think of something good to say fast.  
  
"Kairi, did you miss me?"  
  
"Huh?" She blushed  
  
"Did you miss me?"  
  
"Yes.. Of course I did.." She whispered as she tightened her grip around Sora's waist.  
  
"Then do you want this moment to end?"  
  
"No.."  
  
He smiled at her, but he didn't look happy, more like a disappointed kind of expression. He sat up as Kairi got out of the way, and held onto Kairi's hand.  
  
"What do you think about Sky?" he asked in a gentle voice.  
  
"Sky? He's a good guy, and he helps me quite a bit, but he's just you pretending to be another person, right?"  
  
"Kairi.. I'm not Sora anymore.."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm not the Sora you once knew.."  
  
"Sora, what are you talking about?"  
  
"Sky isn't me, he's a different person, or spirit, or whatever he is."  
  
'I'm human!' Sora heard from a voice inside his head.  
  
"Sora, are you saying that Sky lives within you?"  
  
"Yes, that's why I can't stay with you until I help him finish his task."  
  
"But, I don't want to wait any longer!" she brought Sora's hand up to her mouth, as if she would never let go.  
  
"It won't be long, but I sorry that you have to forget this moment so soon."  
  
He let go of her, and the keyblade started to shine with red light. Sora held up the keyblade, and pointed it towards Kairi. He didn't want to do it, but he had to. A ray of light shot from the keyblade, and it hit Kairi right on the forehead. Kairi's eyes were wide open, and she fell to the floor. A small red keyhole appeared her head, and if you looked closely enough, you could see the scenes of Sky turning into Sora, and how Kairi was talking with Sora. Sora bent over, and touched the keyhole with left hand. There was a sound of something being locked, and the red keyhole on Kairi's forehead disappeared. He changed the keychains on his collar and his keyblade.  
  
"I'll be back.. I promise.."  
  
He gave Kairi a light kiss on the cheek, and closed his eyes. When he opened them after two seconds or so, the left eye was back to its blood red colour. But his right eye turned completely blue instead of turning red. He picked up Kairi, and carried her back down to the kitchen. He set her down onto a chair, and started to wrap a bandage around his blue right eye.  
  
"Kairi, wake up!" Sky shouted in Kairi's ear.  
  
"Oh, is it morning?"  
  
"Um.. We just finished dinner, Kairi.."  
  
"Oh. Oops, then I must've fallen asleep after I ate my dinner."  
  
"Hey, it's alright, I'll do the dishes. You can go to bed first if you're tired."  
  
"Okay."  
  
She walked upstairs and opened the door to her room. She changed into something more comfortable, and fell onto her bed. She touched her cheek, and for some reason, she felt like it was the most comfortable feeling she had ever felt. She fell asleep, with her finger still touching her cheek.  
  
'I'll be back.. I promise..' Kairi heard from within herself, but didn't give it much thought as she drifted off to her own dream world.  
  
Sky just finished the dishes, and so he went up the stairs to check on Kairi. She was asleep, so he went next door to his room and casted Cure on himself.  
  
'Are you sure your cheek is okay? Even I could feel it!'  
  
"Hey, I got the worst of it, now let me change and I'll just talk to you in my dreams, Sora."  
  
'Okay..'  
  
Sky took off his black jacket and his red shirt, leaving only his red pants. He curled up in bed, and fell asleep. Bright light shone through his window, and the light woke him up. It wasn't morning yet though. A black figure came through the walls and the window, but this figure wasn't like the ones before. Sky walked over to the figure, which looked more female. He waved his hand; to greet her. The figure did the same thing.  
  
"Why are you here, I thought I told you I'm not going." He said.  
  
"But you must."  
  
"Hey, I have the right not to."  
  
"You shouldn't be so selfish, though."  
  
"Neither should you."  
  
"I have a better reason than you do."  
  
"Just leave me alone."  
  
"No."  
  
The figure grabbed Sky, and he was surprised. He looked at her grip on his arm, and then looked at the figure's face.  
  
"I can't leave you here."  
  
"You can, now let me go!"  
  
"It's for your own good, Sky!"  
  
"Hey, I know what's good for me, and this isn't!"  
  
"You don't understand. We need you!"  
  
"I've made up my mind."  
  
Sky tried to get the grip of the female dark figure to loosen, but it didn't seem to be working. Kairi woke up, and heard some noises coming from the next room, so she decided to go over and check if anything was wrong.  
  
"I'm taking you back, whether you like it or not."  
  
"Let me go!"  
  
Kairi opened the door after hearing Sky yell. She had to do something, and fast, or her new friend might be in danger. She started to throw some things at the figure, but she dodged every one of them. The figure wasn't expecting Kairi to wake up so soon, so she had to retreat with Sky before everything was revealed.  
  
"I have no time for you, young one. I shall be on my way."  
  
"Hey! You put him down!"  
  
The figure went through the wall, and landed outside. She looked up, and she saw some more unexpected company. Riku was holding his wooden sword, and tried to hit the figure. The figure used Sky as a shield as she put him in front of her to stop Riku's attack. Riku hesitated, and the figure pushed him aside.  
  
"It's too late; he's going back to where he belongs!" The figure shouted at Riku.  
  
"Sky, kick her!"  
  
Sky tried to do as Riku had told him, but it didn't seem to have any effect on her. The female figure ran into the cave where Kairi and Sora drew pictures. Kairi went out of her house, and saw Riku running after the figure. She followed and ran as fast as she could. They went inside.  
  
"What?"  
  
The cave didn't look right. All the drawings were gone, and it didn't even look like the way it used to.  
  
"This place.. It's the one in my dream.." Kairi said to herself, without knowing Riku was able to hear what she said.  
  
"Kairi.. Have you been to a place similar to this one?"  
  
"No, but I was here when I was dreaming.. It's the place where Sora was injured and he.."  
  
"Kairi.."  
  
"He stopped breathing in this place, in my dream." Kairi said as a tear fell from her eye.  
  
"Look Kairi, Sora's okay, and he's not dead. Now let's go help Sky."  
  
Sky was lying on the floor. Obviously, he was knocked out by that female figure. Riku could see that the figure was about to leave with Sky through a portal. Riku ran over to them, but when he got half way to the point they were standing, he was suddenly frozen. Riku tried to continue towards them, but he couldn't move. The figure picked up Sky, and started to go through the portal.  
  
"No!" Both Riku and Kairi cried.  
  
Kairi ran after them, but was she was seen by the female figure, she froze too.  
  
"Come back here!" She cried.  
  
Suddenly, Sky's eyes opened, and he kicked the figure so that he was free again. The figure recovered, and headed towards Sky. Sky closed his eyes, and then opened them again. The figure saw the purple left eye, and stopped. She turned around angrily, and marched through the portal alone. Riku and Kairi started to feel very weak, and they both fell to the ground. The cave was back to normal, and Sky stood there as he waited for his eyes' colour to change back. After it did, Sky carried Riku and Kairi back to Kairi's house, and let them sleep for the rest of the night.  
  
"I'm sorry, Riku, Kairi. I didn't mean to cause you any harm." He whispered.  
  
Riku woke up, and realized that he was sleeping on Kairi's couch. He felt like going back to sleep, but someone hit him on the head.  
  
"Ow! What the h-"  
  
"Heck." Sky finished.  
  
"It was going to be hell, but oh well." Riku commented.  
  
"You should be thankful that I woke you up. Kairi was going to wake you by hitting you where it hurts."  
  
"Where?"  
  
Sky used his index finger and pointed straight down. Riku understood immediately.  
  
"Thanks.."  
  
"You're welcome, and if you want, you could stay for breakfast."  
  
"It's okay; I've got breakfast made at home."  
  
"We're having pancakes."  
  
"On second thought, I think I'll stay. I'm tired of having fish everyday."  
  
"I'll go tell Kairi."  
  
Kairi was flipping the pancakes, but she did it quite clumsily. Sky took over as he told her Riku was eating too, so Kairi went to talk with Riku.  
  
"You have a good sleep?"  
  
"I guess, but why was I here again?"  
  
"You were going to see me undress in the morning, weren't you!?" Kairi said, pointing at him as she giggled.  
  
"What the hell!" He blushed.  
  
"Just kidding!" She started to laugh out loud.  
  
"Oh well, I don't remember, but THAT definitely wasn't the reason."  
  
"Maybe Sky knows."  
  
"Maybe.."  
  
"Let's ask."  
  
Kairi sat down at the table with Riku as Sky served the pancakes. They were golden brown, and they smelled great. [Author's note: I don't care if they don't know what pancakes are, it's in this KH fic. ^_^U] Sky took off his apron, and they all started to eat. Kairi was very satisfied with the pancakes, and wanted more.  
  
"Kairi, what happens if you eat so much that Sora won't recognize you because you're fat?" Riku said.  
  
"I'm still going to be as pretty as I am now, Riku!" Kairi talked back.  
  
"I'll still recognize her." Sky said.  
  
Riku and Kairi looked at him. Sky covered his mouth quickly. There was complete silence after that conversation. Riku finished, and went home before his parents woke up and realized he was gone. Sky and Kairi went outside onto the beach to teach Kairi how to aim with a slingshot. Tidus was fighting with Selphie this time, but didn't really take it seriously. After a couple more normal weeks of training, Kairi had mastered her aiming skills, and they decided to start their journey to find Sky's home. But then, they just realized that they didn't have a ship or anything to get them into inter space. Sky said he could use his magic for transportation, and shocked everyone.  
  
"I could use 'Float' to transport us to other worlds. All I need to do is cast it on something big enough to get us all on board."  
  
Now there was more work to do. They had to build a ship or something. Riku took out the old rafts that they made before, and started to combine it with some of Wakka's old stuff. It worked, but it looked a bit hideous. Kairi and Tidus asked their parents for paint, and they painted the 'ship' with white paint. Selphie said it looked boring, so she painted the word 'ciel' on the side of the ship.  
  
"What does ciel mean, Selphie?" Sky asked.  
  
"It's your name." She smiled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It means sky in another language."  
  
"Oh, I see now."  
  
The ship was finally done, but they all forgot that they had to FIT into it. The six teenagers tried to get in without suffocating, but all six people inside the ship was too much.  
  
"I don't want to start over again.." Kairi moaned.  
  
"Let's use rock-paper-scissors to see who has to be left behind." Tidus suggested.  
  
They gathered around in a circle, and started. The one who lost at the last round would be the one staying. Sky watched as he waited for the results. Selphie was the first to be chosen to go on the adventure, then Kairi and Riku. Tidus really wanted to go, and so did Wakka. They were both nervous, and Tidus started to sweat. Tidus lost to Wakka most of the time in fights and other things too. He wasn't sure if Lady Luck was with him, but he had to do something to determine the one staying. Tidus and Wakka stuck out their hands.  
  
"Rock, paper, scissors!"  
  
Both had closed eyes, and they waited for a sign.  
  
"Oh my god.. Tidus actually beat Wakka!" Selphie cried.  
  
They opened their eyes, and Tidus had paper, while Wakka put out rock. It was decided, and Wakka was going to be the one that stayed on Destiny Islands.  
  
"I'm sorry, Wakka.." Tidus apologized.  
  
"Hey, it's okay. I'll stay and make sure I tell Sora where you all went when he comes back."  
  
"Thanks, Wakka." Kairi said.  
  
Sky waved his hand, and Float was casted onto the ship. Everyone got on, and the handmade gummi ship went up into the air.  
  
"Bye, Wakka!" They all yelled through the window that they made.  
  
"Good luck!" Wakka yelled back as he waved his arm.  
  
The journey begins..  
To be continued in Chapter 5..  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Snakey: Wow.. It's already five chapters? I think I have to write more on the next chapter! ^_^ Oh, and I didn't say it before, but ciel is French. I think all you "L'arc en Ciel" fans will know for sure. ^_^ I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, and now it's finally the time to start the journey! o Please review, and thanks in advance! ^_^  
  
~May 13, 03 


	6. Chapter 5: Unfinished Destiny

Concealed By: Snakey  
  
Chapter 5: Unfinished Destiny  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
The journey has just begun, and the handmade gummi ship hovers slowly towards the next closest world from Destiny Islands. It was calm and peaceful now that the heartless were gone. All you could hear were the sounds made by the engine and some breathing. There was just enough room to make four beds for five people.  
  
"What? But there's so little room there!" cried Selphie, who cared about how surprisingly small her bed was.  
  
"Who's sharing a bed?" Tidus asked, hoping it wouldn't be him.  
  
"Well, I don't mind sharing." Sky said since no one wanted to.  
  
"How about playing another round of rock-paper-scissors?" Kairi exclaimed.  
  
"Nah, it's too boring, so let's decide with some cards." Riku objected.  
  
"You brought a deck?" Sky questioned.  
  
"My friend, a deck of cards is always needed for times like these." He replied, patting Sky on the back.  
  
"What's the game?"  
  
"Well.. How about we play Slap-Jack?"  
  
"Sure.." They all moaned.  
  
Sky sat aside, and looked out the window at interspace. It was so beautiful, and he couldn't believe that his magic got him and his friends this far. He leaned back in the chair facing the controls, and started thinking. Friends.. Now that he thought about it, he had met a friend before he arrived at Destiny Islands, in his homeland. The thought of having friends gave him such a special warm feeling, and yet he couldn't remember the first time he felt that. He closed his eyes, and began to search his memory to find that friend he once met, long ago.  
  
'I'm going, but don't cry, we'll meet each other again. You may not know, but I'll always be there. Don't..cry..'  
  
That gentle voice of a young lady.. It was the greatest thing he had ever heard. It was one that could save him in his most helpless times. A voice that of love and peace. But why, why did this voice say such a thing? Sky continued his search, but it was hard when you were also hearing the slaps, the "Ow"s, and the "What the hell, I got it first!"s. He shook it off, and tried to concentrate and stay focused. He closed his eyes once more.  
  
'Are you afraid? Don't be, because you are not alone. I am here, so don't be afraid.'  
  
Sky suddenly felt the softest touch. There were some nice, breezy winds, and the movements of the grass. But then, a hand lightly touched his face, followed by a strong and painful pinch on the cheek.  
  
"Ow!" He cried.  
  
"Are you alright?" A girl asked.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
He looked around, but he wasn't in the gummi ship.  
  
"What the.."  
  
He lifted up his hand to scratch his head, but then he realized that his hand was surprisingly small. He touched his right eye, but there wasn't a bandage around it like he had expected. Sky had gone back in time. He looked at the girl. She had hair that went to her shoulders, and they were brown like his. She had red eyes too. She wore a pure white dress, with covered her up to the knees. And her face, well, she looked like a seven year old. Then Sky realized who she was. She was his friend, his first friend. Sky smiled, and decided to play with her. But when they finally figured out what game to play, the girl looked to her right. She saw a man there, and she turned back to Sky.  
  
"Princess, it's time to go." The man said to the girl.  
  
"Princess?" Sky asked, staring at the disappointed girl.  
  
"I'm sorry I never told you this, but I'm a princess. I have to go now.." She replied.  
  
"But, you haven't told me your name yet.." Sky asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, my name's Tenth." She smiled, and slowly walked away.  
  
"Can I see you again?" He asked, afraid of losing her so soon.  
  
"Find me at the castle. It's the tallest building, so you'll find it. Oh! And you still haven't told me your name, too!"  
  
"My name is.."  
  
A sudden sharp pain hit his chest. He couldn't speak his name. All he could do was to try and force out his voice, but it didn't come. He tried harder, but still nothing. After a few seconds of waiting, he remembered. He didn't have a name. Once a tear fell from his eyes, he felt the ground shake, and all of a sudden, his vision went blank. It was all white, and feathers fell from the heavens, as if it were snowing. He looked up, and everything was still pure white. But after awhile, the scenery vanished, and now it was a darkness filled world. The grass he played on was now coated in red and black. He looked on, straight at the castle, which was also coated. He could feel the uncomfortable ness of it all, and the smell of blood made it worse. He soon realized that he was back in his black coat, but without bandages around his eye.  
  
"Princess Tenth!" He cried.  
  
Sky ran towards the castle, and saw the burning flames lighting it up like hell. He pushed the gates open, and runs upstairs to check on Tenth. [Author's note: Tenth is a weird name, so don't bother asking about it. I just made it up somehow.] The flames were blocking him, but he didn't care. He finally reached Tenth's room, and inside, the princess knelt down facing the window, with her hands together, and her eyes were closed. She opened her eyes slowly, and the scenery changed back to the pure white with feathers as snow. She looked at Sky, still smiling. Sky went over to her, and hugged her as tightly as she could.  
  
"Sky.." She called out with her gentle voice.  
  
"What?" He asked."  
  
"Sky.. It's the name I wanted to give you ever since we met. You don't have to be an unknown now.."  
  
"Tenth, don't go now!" He yelled, with tears forming in his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry. I'm going, but don't cry, we'll meet each other again. You may not know, but I'll always be there. Don't..cry.." She started to breathe heavily.  
  
"What happened here? This beautiful place that's just like paradise, what happened!?"  
  
"Not everyone is pure, Sky. My father, he had one of the purest hearts of them all. He tried to fill ours with hope. But he went too far, and believed the darkness would do the same for us after he was gone. After he died this morning, on my 15th birthday, our world will be destroyed by the darkness reborn within his body. Nothing can stay. But Sky, you can.." She explained.  
  
"Why? What about you, Tenth? Can't you survive too?"  
  
"I can, but only if you believe."  
  
"But what if it doesn't work?" He started to cry even harder than before.  
  
"Are you afraid? Don't be, because you are not alone. I am here, so don't be afraid.."  
  
Tenth put her hand on Sky's cheek, and slowly pulled it towards her. She placed a gentle kiss on his right eye, and it started to glow.  
  
"What's going on!?"  
  
"Sky, you can make it through, but you must find the keybearer. He will save us, tell him your story. Save us, Sky, from the darkness that will consume this world!"  
  
"Tenth!"  
  
The girl gave Sky one last kiss on the lips before it began. She let go, and shattered like glass. But her shadow remained on the floor, and began to pop up. Someone with a pale face and a black dress was born from the shadow.  
  
'Be careful, your journey will not be complete, until your destiny is fulfilled. I will miss you, and remember, you will be one with your keychain..'  
  
Sky returned to reality, and he woke up. Apparently, he had fallen asleep in the chair. He slipped, and fell to the ground with a loud 'Plop!' Sky sat up, and realized everyone was asleep on the floor with a pile of cards in the centre. He looked over Selphie, who was the one closest to him, and saw that the person with the most cards happened to be her, which meant that Selphie would have to share a bed with him. He sighed, and sat back to think about his dream. Some dreams were so hard to remember, and the only thing that was worth remembering in his dream was a girl saying "Don't cry." He also remembered something about a keybearer and a keychain. He touched the one that was attached on the collar wrapped around his neck, and lifted it up to examine. It was just the same shiny silver like it used to be. But he remembered how Sora had a keyblade that also had a keychain on it. It was a shiny blue coloured keychain, and it was Sora's memory. Maybe the keychain Sky had was his memory? But when he wore it, nothing seemed to happen at all.  
  
"Why can't someone just come out and tell me what this is.." He moaned.  
  
Well, obviously, no one or thing made a response to his wish. He yawned, and just curled up in one of the beds and went to sleep. CRASH! Sky sat up instantly. He had forgotten that everyone was sleeping, so no one was watching where the ship was going! It seems that they had crashed landed into a world with two huge statues, with the words 'COLISEUM' written on a building.  
  
"Damn." Sky mumbled.  
  
"You're up?" Kairi asked, appearing upside-down in front of Sky's vision.  
  
"Whoa!" He cried as he jumped back.  
  
"It seems like we ended up at the coliseum." She pointed to the big letters at the front door.  
  
"Obviously.." Riku said, lacking his so called enthusiasm.  
  
"Hey, we got somewhere. It's a start." Tidus replied, opening the door of their gummi ship.  
  
"It's a start, but you know what people do here?" Riku asked the boy.  
  
"Have fun?"  
  
"No, stupid, they compete here to see who the greatest hero is, and according to records, it's Sora."  
  
"Wow, Sora's that good?" Selphie asked in amazement.  
  
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Sky yelled automatically.  
  
The others look at him, confused on why he said something like that. Sky looked at all of them, and his face flushed with embarrassment. Kairi looked at him, examining his expression. That sounded like something Sora would say.  
  
"Um.. I mean.. He's great, so why shouldn't he be the best?" Sky laughed forcefully. He had to find an excuse.  
  
"Sky, come here for a sec." Riku waved his finger, and walked off to one of the four corners.  
  
Sky followed Riku, and they started their conversation in whispers.  
  
"You're Sora, aren't you?" Riku asked, investigating his new friend.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Come on, admit it!" Riku yelled, not realizing that the others might hear him.  
  
"What the heck are you talking about, Riku?"  
  
"You are Sora!"  
  
"No, I'm not!"  
  
"You can't hide it from me, just admit it!"  
  
"Why should I, if I'm not Sora!"  
  
"Why are you doing this to Kairi? You know how long she's been waiting? She needs you with her, so how selfish can you get!?"  
  
Sky jerked a little, and made a depressed expression. He looked downwards weakly.  
  
"Sora didn't want to; it's not his fault.." He whispered, trying to make it so that Riku couldn't hear the words.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Look, Riku. This won't be getting us anywhere, and while you guys help me find my home, I'm sure you'll find Sora too. I know you miss your best friend and you're worried about Kairi, but the sooner we get on with our journey, the better."  
  
Sky ran off, and went back to the others. Riku just stared at the floor, but then lifted his head and followed the other boy. He knew Sky was hiding something, and he intended to find out what his secret is, and if it was linked to Sora or not. Kairi was a little worried. She heard Riku scream Sora's name out at Sky, so she was worried that Riku might do something that could hurt Sky's feelings. Kairi watched as everyone walked into the coliseum, especially at Riku. What was he planning to do now?  
  
To be continued in Chapter 6..  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Snakey: I'm so SORRY! __ Till Chapter 6, and please continue to Read and Review! ^^  
  
~June 6, '03 


	7. Chapter 6: Proof of Pain

Concealed By: Snakey  
  
Chapter 6: Proof of Pain -------------------------------------  
  
Sky looked around, and he couldn't see anyone there. He looked to the side, and saw trophies and a plaque.  
  
'Told you I was a great fighter, but you didn't believe me.' said the voice of Sora, which was coming from Sky's head.  
  
He grinned, but didn't notice that Selphie was staring at him and made a weird face when he did that. He looked back at her when he finally realized, and was a tad bit embarrassed. She continued her staring, but then turned away to stare at Tidus instead.  
  
"Whoa! These belong to Sora?" Tidus cried, looking at the trophies.  
  
"He's not only cute, but he can fight too!" Selphie yelled out loud.  
  
Everyone stared at her after her statement. Kairi had felt a little bit of jealousy growing inside her, but then again, Selphie was always joking around. This could have been one of those jokes that got everyone's attention. She's been doing that quite a bit lately.  
  
"Cute?" Riku asked, trying to be as brief as possible.  
  
"Hey, I've got my reasons." Selphie replied.  
  
"Looks like Kairi's got some competition." Tidus joked, but then got hit on the head by Kairi.  
  
"It's not funny." She said.  
  
"Hey, I won't take Sora away from you Kairi." Selphie smiled.  
  
Selphie pulled Sky over, and took his hand a squeezed tightly.  
  
"I'll just take Sky away from you instead." She stated.  
  
"Okay, enough jokes. Let's check out what's on the other side of that door." Sky yanked, causing Selphie to release him.  
  
Sky walked to the door, but then something pushed him back and he fell to the floor. Kairi quickly helped him up, and they looked to see the one that pushed Sky. They were a bit surprised to see that no one was there. Riku examined the door, and went through it safely. Sky stood up, and tried again. But something was blocking him, and he bounced off of it and slammed into the wall.  
  
"What's going on?" Sky asked.  
  
"I think it's some kind of barrier." Riku said.  
  
Kairi took out her slingshot, and flung the rock through the door. But like Sky, it bounced off the invisible barrier and went flying to the wall. Sky ducked, and the rock missed his forehead by half a centimetre. They stared at the door, checking to see if there was some sort of device that could set the barrier off. Riku tried to walk back to the other side, but couldn't.  
  
"Hey! I'm stuck here!" He cried.  
  
"What's going on? Why's there a barrier here!?" Tidus yelled angrily.  
  
"This is going to cause some delays.." Selphie said.  
  
"Well, too bad, Riku. We've got to leave you here and continue our journey, bye!" Tidus announced.  
  
"I'm going to smack you so hard.." Riku said, but was interrupted by Sky's fireball, which was sent straight at the barrier.  
  
It worked, but the fireball hit Riku on the stomach. Riku fell down, but luckily Sky casted 'Water' on him before he caught on fire. Riku was soaked, and the only thing that was dried was his silver-grey hair.  
  
"Oops.." Sky said as he went to the other side.  
  
".." moaned Riku.  
  
".I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I was just going to see if I could break that barrier.."  
  
"At least it worked.." Kairi said before Riku was going to do something to Sky.  
  
"Alright, we can get through!" Selphie yelled.  
  
The group of teens stepped through, and helped the fallen Riku so he was back on his feet. He looked at Sky angrily, but then turned around and walked further away. Sky sighed in relief, because he thought for a moment that Riku was going to seriously hurt him. Tidus put a hand over Sky shoulder and gave him a little pat on the back, just to see if Sky was okay.  
  
"I thought you were going to get flattened, Sky." He said.  
  
"I did too, but he just looked at me very angrily."  
  
"You know, I think Riku's got a heart after all." Selphie said behind the two boys.  
  
"Everyone's got one. Riku's just not the type that shows it." Tidus said.  
  
"Hey, if we continue talking about him, you think he'll get mad and come back to stomp us?" Sky asked.  
  
The three stood there thinking about it, and decided to stop. Kairi giggled, and followed Riku from far behind him. They looked around the arena, but they couldn't see anyone. Sky walked up the steps, and felt the walls with his fingers. As he did his examination, the others continued looking for someone alive and willing to talk. Tidus got bored after awhile, so he sat on the steps and looked up at the sky. Sky continued to feel the walls, and then something sharp scratched his finger tip, leaving a small bloody scar.  
  
"Ouch." Sky whispered to himself.  
  
He looked at the point that had scratched his finger. He touched it again, and it stung him once more. It felt like a thorn on a rose. Sky looked closely at the point, and tried to find anything else near it. More points stung his finger tips. He started to wonder..  
  
'Hmm.. It feels like thorns of a rose.. Maybe it is a rose.'  
  
Sky took out his left hand to reveal the shiny keyhole upon it.  
  
"Fire!" he called.  
  
A red light shone from his hand, and fire balls shot out of it and slammed into the wall. Surprised, everyone but Tidus looked to see what Sky was doing. Fire burned the wall, and it also burned something that looked like a rose. The tall rose fell detached from the wall and fell to the floor as it burned in flames. No one knew why it was there, so they wanted to find out, and ran towards Sky's position. They looked at the dead rose as the flames began to decrease. Tidus continued looking at the sky, leaning on the steps. But then, he saw something in the middle of it. A brownish dot was what it seemed like. It grew bigger and bigger, and soon Tidus shot up from his spot and looked shocked. The dot had spikes, and the spikes waved around as the dot grew bigger and bigger. That wasn't a dot, it was a person! Tidus ran up the steps so he could see the side of the person. A black shirt, red pants, yellow shoes, and brown spiky hair. There was only one person in the worlds that Tidus knew with that outfit.  
  
"Sora!" he cried automatically.  
  
Tidus ran directly below the falling friend and was worried that Sora would come crashing down leaving both of them dead. The others turned around, and saw Tidus attempting to catch something. Kairi narrowed her eyes to see who or what it was. Sky was shocked. That was Sora! Kairi found out too, and ran down the steps almost tripping. Sky followed close behind her. Sora was about to hit Tidus now. Tidus got ready, and was about to catch Sora. But that plan didn't work. Sora went right through Tidus, and hit the floor, shattering like glass. Kairi paused. Everyone started and Tidus with the shattered pieces around him.  
  
"What kind of joke is this!?" Riku yelled in anger.  
  
"Are you sure..?" Tidus looked at them, hesitating a bit.  
  
Sky knelt down and picked up a piece from the floor. He eyed it, but no matter how he looked, all he could see was his reflection in that small mirror. Kairi wanted to see what it was too, but when she looked at her piece, she saw nothing but a white surface. Riku looked over Kairi's shoulder, and he saw the white surface slowly change into black.  
  
"What's with these pieces?" Kairi asked without knowing if anyone else would know.  
  
"I don't know, but it seems that every piece has something different in it." Selphie answered.  
  
"Well, in this piece, all I see is my reflection." Sky said.  
  
"This one turns from white to black." Riku pointed out about Kairi's piece.  
  
"Well, let's put them all together so we can see all of them." Tidus said while sweeping the pieces to one spot.  
  
Everyone copied Tidus, and pushed them all into the centre. When they finished, they all stared at the glass and were very amused. Each piece had a different ability, and some were like small monitors. [Author's note: Wouldn't you like to have a window made with that kinda glass?] Sky looked behind him, and saw that there was still one piece that was left.  
  
"We forgot one." He said, going back to get it.  
  
Sky bent over and picked it up, but he wasn't careful and got cut on his right hand.  
  
"Ow!" He yelped dropping the piece from his fingers.  
  
"You really should be more careful, Sky. It's still broken glass after all." Selphie lectured.  
  
"Yeah.. I forgot about that.."  
  
"Well, bring it over anyways." Riku commanded.  
  
Sky's cut was bleeding, and a drop of blood even dropped onto the glass. Surprisingly, by the time Sky brought the piece over, it started to ripple in blood red. Selphie stared at it, and then looked at the rest of the pieces. They were rippling too.  
  
"Oh my god.." She whispered.  
  
"What did you do, Sky!?" Tidus yelled.  
  
"Nothing, I just got cut by one!" Sky replied.  
  
"I don't like this at all...." Kairi complained.  
  
"Let's be prepared for whatever's going to happen next.." Riku said, taking out his blade. [Author's note: You know, that blade he's holding on the cover of the game.]  
  
"This place just gets weirder and weirder!" Tidus cried as the pieces started to move automatically, building up on top of each other.  
  
Everyone took out their weapons, and stood in position, ready to fight. The pieces continued to build, and created a human figure. The red started to change to other colours too, and now it looked like a duplicate of Sora.  
  
"Another Sora!?" Tidus cried.  
  
"What do these pieces of glass have against Sora!?" Kairi questioned angrily.  
  
"This is for using my best friend's face!" Riku started the action.  
  
He charged at the fake Sora, and cut it in half with his blade. Once again, the Sora shattered.  
  
"What?" Selphie said in amazement.  
  
"That was it?" Sky said beside her.  
  
".." Riku was wordless.  
  
"I expected something much more extraordinary.." Tidus murmured.  
  
"Some fight." Kairi said looking down at the once again shattered pieces.  
  
"Somehow, it feels like we just got insulted." Sky stated.  
  
The others nodded at his statement, and continued looking at the pieces to see what else they would do. Suddenly, a piece from behind Kairi shot up, and cut her hand. Now the pieces started rippling again, and formed a Kairi.  
  
"Ok, so is this all it does?" Riku started at the fake Kairi.  
  
"Ow, that hurt!" Kairi complained, staring angrily at the duplicate.  
  
"Let me get this one." Tidus said, taking out his stick.  
  
With one hard wack on the fake Kairi's head, it started cracking, and then broke apart. Tidus rested his stick on his shoulder, and looked at the pieces again.  
  
"This is just dumb!" He cried.  
  
"Someone dig a hole and bury these insults." Riku said.  
  
The pieces just lay there now without a movement. The gang got tired after staring, so they decided to leave without cleaning up. Of course, they had to continue their journey. All 5 teens hopped into their gummi ship, and Sky did a few repairs before they took off. When they left the Coliseum, they didn't realize that they unlocked something that shouldn't have been touched. But without knowing, the happy teens continued on peacefully.  
  
*---Meanwhile: back at Coliseum---*  
  
Dark figures came out of a portal, and one of them knelt down to see the shattered pieces. The figure stared closely at the largest piece, and made a statement to those behind it.  
  
"This is all the proof we need." It said calmly.  
  
"Should we hunt him down now?" The men said.  
  
"No, there is still something I must ask him privately."  
  
"Then we'll stay back until later on and await your orders."  
  
"Fine, go back then."  
  
"Yes mistress."  
  
The dark men stepped back, and vanished. The only one that remained was a girl. She gathered the pieces into a sack, and stood up. She looked about checking to see if she missed anything. After the examination, her face turned from black to white. And then the brown hair that went to her shoulders, and along with it, the blood red eyes.  
  
"Run Sky.." She whispered.  
  
But after one whisper, her face went pitch black once more, and she stepped through a portal to gate out from the Coliseum.  
  
To be continued in Chapter 7..  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Snakey: Oh my god.. This chapter took WAY too long to finish! _ I'm sorry! I was playing so much that I completely forgot to finish this chapter.. (Must shut myself away from Ragnarok Online..) Anyway, at least it's up! So please people, READ AND REVIEW! (please ^^u)  
  
~July 25th, '03 


	8. Chapter 7: Truth

Concealed

By: Snakey

Chapter 7:  Truth

-------------------------------------

            The gang sat inside the gummi ship, with Sky piloting it with his left hand's keyhole. The rest of them just sat at the back making their beds. Tidus looked at Sky's skilful piloting, and wondered about the keyhole.

"Hey Sky, how'd you get that keyhole in your left hand?" Tidus asked curiously.

"Yeah, I want to know too!" Selphie added.

"Well, I'm not sure how I got it, but with it, I can cast magic and possibly summon things." Sky replied.

"Possibly summon….. Not for sure?" Selphie asked.

"Well, I never summoned anything, but I think I can."

'_Hey, I said you could if I help you.' Sora said._

"I don't know….. I might be able to do this myself." Sky replied.

'_What if you mess up?'_

"Look, believe in me for once."

"Umm….. Sky, who are you talking to?" Tidus asked.

"….. Myself?" He said, with embarrassment.

"Okay….. I'll just leave you to it then."

'_That made you sound stupid.' Sora insulted._

'_I'll talk to you through thinking then.' Sky replied in his mind._

            Tidus and Selphie went back to fluffing the pillows and straightening the sheets. Kairi was staring out of the window and looking at the stars. Riku….. Well he was asleep already in the corner of the ship.

"Sky? Is it possible to leave this ship on auto-pilot?" Selphie asked.

"No such thing on this ship." He replied.

"Aw….." Selphie pouted.

"Someone else has to pilot then." Sky turned around, and looked at the bunch.

"Psst….. Take Riku….. Don't look at me….." Selphie whispered while pointing at the sleeping Riku.

"Okay." Sky replied quickly.

"Wait, Kairi should do the honours of waking him up, or he'd flatten us." Tidus declared.

"Well….. Selphie is an exception." Kairi said turning from the window.

"No, he'd still hurt me Kairi, so that leaves only you." Selphie stated.

"Why is it always me when it comes to Riku…?"

            Kairi walked over to the sleeping boy, with the others close behind her. Kairi took a deep breath and yelled:

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUM!!!!"

            The others were shocked and afraid at the same time as they watched as Kairi awakened the angry Riku. Kairi stood her ground and looked at Riku.

"Ow….. My ears….." he said.

"That serves you right for sleeping, while we did all the work." Kairi said, not knowing that was kind of what she did too.

"You could've just nudged me a little to wake me though." He stood up.

"Okay….. Riku, it's your turn to pilot this ship, I can't do so forever without sleep." Sky said.

"Yeah, yeah….. whatever….." Riku said in a Squall-ish tone.

"Come on everyone, lets get some sleep." Tidus announced.

"I'm taking over Riku's bed then." Sky said.

"Do what you want." Riku said.

"Sky, you don't want to share a bed with me?" Selphie said in slight disappointment.

"If I don't have to, then no."

"Fine, be that way."

"….."

            Kairi watched as Selphie curled up in her bed, which was beside hers. Tidus and Sky's beds were on the other side of the ship.

"Selphie….. Do you like Sky or something?" Kairi whispered to Selphie.

"I don't know, but it feels more like I'm playing with him." She whispered back.

"What? That's not like you Selphie."

"Yes it is."

"….. Well, you didn't do this to Sora, so why only Sky?"

"I did do this to Sora, you just didn't know."

"Okay….. Are you really Selphie??"

"Of course I am!" Selphie yelled out loud.

            The boys looked at them, and Kairi covered Selphie's mouth so there wouldn't be anymore disturbances.

"If you guys want to talk then go ahead, but don't be so loud." Sky said.

"Yeah, you got to think of how you'd bother us too." Tidus said.

"Just go to sleep." Riku said to everyone.

            They all curled back in their beds, and went to sleep with Riku wide awake piloting the ship. Sky stared up into the ceiling, thinking about the girl in his dreams who was the closest to an angel that he'd ever seen, or at least, dreamt of. He turned his head, only to find that Tidus was asleep, and snoring.

'_Oh man… Tidus snores…' He said to Sora._

'_Too bad for you then.' Sora said, like a slap on Sky's face._

'_Some hero you are.'_

'_Hey! I'm only 14.'_

'_Then respect your elders, I'm 15.'_

'_…Just get your rest, I need to sleep to you know?'_

'_Fine.'_

            Sky turned away from Tidus, and closed his eyes. It was disturbing with the snoring and all, but somehow he managed to drift in to a quiet slumber.

"…Sky?" said a voice.

            Sky opened his eyes, and saw Kairi right in from of him. He sat up, looked out the window, and saw light coming through it. He walked to the door, looking around him to analyse the area.

"Traverse?" Sky questioned.

"Yup, Traverse town!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Selphie, how would you know? You've never been here." Riku asked.

"I can read." Selphie pointed to a sign at the World Gate.

"…"

"Hey, let's find Leon and the others! I do hope they've returned from Hollow Bastion." Kairi said.

"Hollow Bastion…" It seemed to give Sky a bad feeling.

"What's wrong Sky?" Selphie worried.

"Just that, the name of that place gives me a sharp pain in my chest." He put his hand on top of his heart, and closed his eyes while taking deep breaths.

"Maybe, Hollow Bastion is your home?" Riku said, somewhat afraid it would be true.

"No… it's not."

'_Is it that dark place where I merged with you?' Sora asked._

'_I don't know…'_

            The group proceeded into the 3rd District where they hoped to see Leon, Aerith, or Yuffie. They split up at when they reached Merlin's house, and searched throughout the rooms. Sky went upstairs, but was surprised when you saw flying objects. He looked at them, and they started to charge at him. He didn't wait any longer and ran out of the way. He stomped on the elevator forcing it to lower faster. This was going to be a long search. After 2 hours of searching for the three, the crew gave up. It was too boring for them, so they decided to search else where.

"Okay, next stop, Hollow Bastion… where ever that is." Selphie exclaimed.

"Fine by me." Riku said.

"Let's hope we get somewhere with the journey this time… I just hate dead ends." Kairi said.

"Yes… but I wish we didn't have to go… there." Sky whispered to himself.

'_I know what you mean' Sora said._

'_How do you know how I feel, you're not me.'_

'_Um, I'm in you? Of course I'd know how you feel.'_

'_Too bad, because you don't.'_

'_Come on, Sky. Don't be so cold. We're all trying to help you. And besides, Hollow Bastion always gets you your answer.'_

'_You don't know that for sure.'_

'_Works for me though.'_

'_…'_

"Sky? Are you ready?" Selphie poked Sky on the forehead.

"Huh?"

"We're ready to go to Hollow Bastion!" Kairi said walking into the Ciel.

"Oh, right." Sky followed them.

"Wait, Sky, I need to talk to you. Alone." Riku said grabbing him before he could follow the others on board.

            Sky obediently followed Riku to the side, following so close that when Riku stopped, he bumped into him. Riku turned around to face the other boy.

"What's wrong Riku?"

"How should I say this…"

"Huh? Say what?"

"Well…"

"Hey, we've got to get somewhere soon, so try to make it quick."

"…"

"Fine, don't tell me, I'll just go on the ship."

"Wait, I'm ready."

"Speak then."

"…I want you to let Sora take over your body on our next stop."

"What?"

"No use pretending… I know Sora's in you."

"W-What!? Are you serious Riku?"

"Don't play dumb with me!"

"I told you before, I don't know t-this _Sora_ of yours!"

'_You're a bad liar.' Sora insulted._

'_Shut up.'_

"Just let Sora take over in Neverland! That's our next stop."

"I thought it was Hollow Bastion?"

"You can't really see it… but Kairi's not doing too well, so seeing Sora will cheer her up completely."

"… I don't know what you want from me, but… I'll see what I can do."

"Sky, you're a bad liar."

"!!!"

            Riku laughed as he went back to the ship; while Sky yelled behind him for saying he was a bad liar. Inside Sky, Sora was laughing just as hard as Riku.

"I'm not LYING!"

"Lying about what?" Kairi startled Sky at the doorway.

"Oh! Nothing!"

"Come on, tell me!"

"It's nothing, really!"

"You're a bad liar." Kairi chuckled, while behind her, Riku started to laugh even harder.

"… I don't care anymore…" Sky said weakly as he joined the others on the ship.

'_I hope Kairi can hang in there… because I'm coming back to her, I promised.' Sora said, without Sky even hearing him._

_To be continued in Chapter 8….._

-------------------------------------

Snakey: So sorry… I got lazy on typing the fanfic! ^^; I'll try to get this fic done so R&R to motivate me for the next chapter please~

_December 26th, '03___


	9. Chapter 8: Hidden

Concealed

By: Snakey

Chapter 8: Hidden

-------------------------------------

            As the gummi ship went through warp portals, the ship was silent. No one spoke because, well, they didn't know what to say. Tidus sat there throwing his blitzball at the wall, and Selphie staring at Tidus doing so. Kairi looked out the window with Sky, and Riku sat at the pilot seat making sure the ship wouldn't crash and kill them. Kairi tried to break the silence by asking about Sky, but was afraid to do so in case it brought bad memories. Well, it seemed like Selphie read her mind, and asked for her.

"Sky?" Selphie started.

"Hmm?"

"Well, we've known you for awhile now, how about telling us about yourself?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt… Where should I start?" Sky replied as all attention was now focused on him.

"What I really want to know is how you got your name, since it's the same as _Sora_'s." Tidus demanded.

"Sure, let me think…"

"Tidus, isn't it obvious his parents gave him the name?" Selphie explained.

"No… He could have got it another way."

"How did you get yours then?"

"Umm… my parents?"

"See!"

"Hey! I could have been named after something? Didn't you think of that?"

"What in the world is called _Tidus_??"

"When can Sky start then?" Kairi interrupted the pointless fighting.

"Uh… Yeah, sorry…" The two answered.

"Well, unlike most of you… I don't know my parents. At all."

"Oh… I'm sorry Sky, you don't have to continue if you don't want to."

"Nah, it's okay, if I didn't know what kind of people they were, I wouldn't be sad about it."

"That's true." Tidus exclaimed.

"Anyways… I remember from one of my dreams something to do with how I was named. I remember in a field of grass, a girl was talking to me. I didn't have a name then, but she was the one that gave me the name Sky. Just thinking about that time gives me a little warmth inside me."

"I think you loved that girl." Riku explained, surprising everyone.

"Wow, Riku. It's even had to imagine you speaking of love." Selphie joked.

"Hey, you don't know me that well then." Riku countered the statement.

"…"

"So, since I can't really explain my name's history, what else would you like to know?"

"…Your relationship with Sora…" Kairi whispered under her breath.

"What?"

"Oh! Nothing!"

            Kairi walked to her bed, and pulled the covers over her.

"It's been quite a day; I think I get some rest now."

"Okay, good night Kairi, even though I can't even tell if it's night in space." Selphie said.

"Maybe we'll continue my stories next time, since Kairi might want to hear it." Sky said.

"Riku, you need some rest too?" Tidus asked.

"I want to, but who'll pilot the ship?" Riku said.

"I can!" Kairi jumped out of her bed surprising everyone.

"…Are you sure, Kairi?" Sky asked before everyone else.

"I've always wanted to pilot, since it seems so fun." She smiled back.

            At that point, Sky couldn't help but blush a little bit.

'_Sora__, why are you blushing?_'

'_Sorry! I can't help it! I mean, it's Kairi!_'

'_You know that you're making me blush too?_'

'_I am?_'

'_Yes, and if I blush any harder they'll think I have a crush on Kairi._'

'_Well it's not like blushing is something I can control…_'

'_Fine I'll cover myself._'

            Sky grabbed his sheets, and took off his black jacket. But then he realized that Selphie and Tidus were beside him, so he had the blanket cover his face. Just to make sure they wouldn't see the blush on his face.

"Sky, why are you blushing?" Selphie asked.

'_Damn, too late._'

"…Well… uh…"

"Isn't obvious, Selphie?" Tidus said beside Sky.

'_Is it really that obvious?_'

"He's blushing because you're so close to him, Selphie..." Tidus said, but got hit right on the head by Sky a millisecond after speaking.

"That's not it." Sky said without a slight sense of guilt for the blow on Tidus' head.

"How about you all shut up and go to sleep? That'd be great." Riku said, starting to get annoyed by the conversation.

"Fine, we will!" The three exclaimed and plopped onto bed.

'_That was some nice covering, Sky._'

'_Like you could've done better, just how sharp are Selphie's eyes?_'

'_Well, she's got to have good eyes to hit me in the eye with a skip rope._'

'_…Forget I asked._'

            Everyone drifted off to their quiet slumber, leaving their lives in Kairi's hands, and hoping she won't crash and burn their ship. Kairi continued her piloting, avoiding the asteroids and other gummi ships. She was extra careful, and she was sure she wouldn't die before finding Sora. At least, that's what she hoped for. But after hours of piloting without any rest, her eyes felt like closing anytime soon. She couldn't keep them wide open anymore, but feared that once she closed them she'd fall asleep in a split second. No good, she needed rest, and now. She left the piloting position, and decided to find a replacement. Looking down on her four friends, she decided to let Sky pilot the ship the rest of the way. Kairi bent over next to Sky, trying not to step on Tidus.

"Psst… Sky? Are you awake?"

"…Hmm?" Sky opened his eyes (although you can only see his left eye), and to Kairi's surprise, it showed up as blue.

"!?"

"… What's the matter with Kairi?" Sky said aloud, but then covered his mouth in as much of a surprise as Kairi.

"Huh?"

"N-nothing! What is it Kairi??" he said, letting out his voice without waking up the others.

"Oh! I just wanted you to help me continue piloting… I'm really sleepy…" Kairi rubbed her eyes and started to feel dizzy. She wasn't kidding about being sleepy.

"You don't seem to well, get some rest Kairi, you really need it." Sky stood up to lend his bed to Kairi, who fell into it the second she saw the welcoming pillow and sheets.

"Have fun piloting…" she fell right to sleep.

'_Rest well Kairi_' Sora said.

            Sky bent down, and gave a slight peck on Kairi's soft pink cheeks. With crimson red cheeks, he walked over to the controls and continued their trip. He was too focused on the road (if you can call space a road) to notice that behind him, the once asleep Riku was giving him a cold glare from behind, but then turned around and fell back to sleep.

'_Sky!__ Wake up!_'

'_Huh?_'

'_You know what's going on!?_'

'_I was having a good dream and you woke me up._'

'_No, I mean right now._'

'_What then?_'

'_To explain easily, try moving your right arm._'

'_Huh? What the? My body won't move!_'

'_Now I'll move my right arm_'

            His arm shifted upward, surprising Sky _A LOT_. It was the first time since they both shared the same body that Sora was in control.

'_What happened!?_'

'_Well, I just got woken up by Kairi and gained control while you were asleep… Blame your laziness._'

'_Then how am I supposed to regain control?_'

'_I don't know, but I sure don't want to have Kairi know I'm within you, at least not until I help you find your home._'

'_This can't be happening…Okay, fine. The next time we're asleep I should be in control again, hopefully._'

'_I'm just worried about my piloting skills, last time I piloted I crashed the ship in Deep Jungle._'

'_Turn left!_'

            Sora obeyed the command, and shifted the ship just in time to avoid hitting the asteroid. They continued piloting the ship, talking to each other and having a few laughs, but mostly about Sora's adventures when he went off to defeat Ansem and save his friends. It was rare, since Sora and Sky never really talk about their past, seeing as Sky didn't know his past. Talking about Sora's past though, actually helped Sky know more about Sora's ability, and may come in handy the next time they're in a fight against those dark figures.

'_We're getting close to Neverland, prepare for landing._'

'_This is the hardest part in piloting, the landing._'

'_Stop talking, I'm trying to concentrate here! I don't want us to have another crash landing._'

'_Even if we did I'd probably be okay, you'd feel it quite hard though._'

'_I'll keep that in mind when you're in control again._'

'…'

            The ship landed on the deck of a ship, a pirate ship. Sora stopped the ship and opened the door. This was Neverland for sure. He rushed back inside, took a deep breath, and cried out:

"WAKE UP!"

            Everyone jumped at Sora's demand. It wasn't everyday you'd be woken up like this. [Author's note: Okay… maybe some of you ARE woken up like this everyday…] They stood up about to toss insults and statements to Sora, which they thought was Sky, but he ran outside again before any of them spoke.

"Come on! I've got something really cool to show you all!" He said laughing happily and jumping about.

            Kairi stared at that blue eye of his. Wondering if those were the eyes she longed to see once again. But it couldn't be him. Sora was different from Sky, completely different. They may look alike but their personalities are different. If Sky was Sora she would've been able to tell in a few moments. She watched as Sky bounced up and down, and jumped straight up in the air. He didn't fall back down though; he was floating up in the sky, and flying around them!

'_Sky, I think I'll have to take over at this point._'

'_What!?_'

'_There's something I have to do that here in Neverland, and I promise you'll regain control of this body after I've done what I had to do._'

'_Okay Sora, if it means that much to you._'

'_Thanks, Sky, I knew you'd understand_'

_To be continued in Chapter 9…_

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Snakey: Okay, I lied yet again about trying to update faster, didn't I? But here it is! Up and ready for your reading! And the next chapter I'll try to post up sooner than this one, I've really been getting lazy now haven't I? Well, continue Review and motivate me please! Till next time~

_March 5th, '04___


	10. Chapter 9: Believe

Concealed

By: Snakey

Chapter 9: Believe

-------------------------------------

Kairi stared at Sky fly around them with her eyes wide open. A human, flying! This wasn't something she was used to seeing, but it was she was so amazed that she started jumping up and down as well, attempting to fly about like Sky. Unfortunately, she just fell back down onto the deck. Selphie and Tidus then started jumping as well, but couldn't reach the height that Sky was at. With everyone jumping up and down except Riku now, they all stared at that silver haired boy.

"Don't even think I'll do something as childish as attempt to fly by jumping up and down…" he said in a cold voice.

"Aww Riku, you're just afraid to be embarrassed later because you can't fly like Sky." Selphie joked, and that seemed to have triggered something in Riku.

"Oh yeah?"

Riku gave a slight hop on his right foot and suddenly elevated up towards Sky. Selphie glared at Riku, and stuck her tongue out at him when he wasn't looking.

"Show-off." She mumbled softly, but still it was audible to Riku.

"I'd like to see you come up here." And with that, Riku stuck his tongue out at Selphie as well.

"Oh my, Riku makes silly faces too?" Sky (Sora) chuckled.

Riku turned back to Sky, and gave him a hard smack on the back. Sky spun about in the air, and started to get dizzy after a few rounds. Riku didn't show mercy at all with that smack.

"My hand slipped."

"I'm so sure…" Sky pulled his own cheeks and stuck his tongue out at Riku, which was an action that seemed more like something Sora would do.

Kairi felt like she felt Sora around her after seeing that face. She thought that it may have just been an after effect from jumping up and down.

"Umm… I'm going to rest in the cabin first… I didn't get much sleep last night after piloting. Sky, can you teach me how to fly tomorrow?" Kairi said as she walked to a door on the pirate ship.

"Sure thing!" Sky yelled out his answer with a big grin on his face.

Kairi opened the door, walked in, and shut it behind her. She really was tired today. And she can't stop comparing Sky to Sora. '_They're two different people, I know that! So why can't I stop all these comparisons in my mind? Have I replaced Sora with Sky? No, that can't be right!_' She didn't want to think anymore of it, and plopped down onto the bed, falling asleep the instant her head hit the pillow. As always, her dreams were filled with memories of Sora, and again, caused her to wake in the middle of the night. Usually she'd just go back to sleep, but she heard a voice outside. She stood up, opened the door slightly, and peeked outside to see who it was.

"I wonder what Kairi would do at the end of the journey, when she finds out the truth?"

'_Truth?__ What truth?_' Kairi thought to herself, but continued to listen to the voice of the being in the shadows of the night.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure she won't hurt you when we're finally separated."

Kairi stuck her head out further, and tried make out the image of the one speaking by squinting her eyes. The voice was hard for her to recognize now that she was only half-awake. It was definitely that of a young boy though.

"To be honest, I don't even know if we'll find anything in Hollow Bastion about you."

_Pause._

"Hey, cheer up; I'm not one-hundred per cent sure, either."

_Pause._

"We'll think of something."

Kairi couldn't take anymore of this. Her curiosity was eating her alive, and she had to find out who was speaking, and possibly speaking to whom, since there were pauses in between. She took a deep breath, and stepped forward. She marched right towards the figure, and pulled him towards her on his shoulder. The figure turned around, revealing ocean blue eyes (yes, two eyes, not just one.) and chestnut brown hair.

"Sky!?" Kairi squeaked out from her voice.

She stared at the face, something wasn't quite right. Then it hit her like a rock. BLUE eyes. The only big difference in appearance from Sky and Sora. She continued her staring into those blue eyes, without even noticing the tear trickling down her eye.

"K-Kairi?" The one in front of her said.

"… it's you… You're back…"

"Huh!?"

"Sora!!"

Kairi practically pounced onto the boy, hugging him as tightly as she could. Sora winced at the tightness of Kairi's arms, but couldn't help but blush a cherry red. But realizing what had just happened, he squeezed out of her tight grip, and took a few steps back.

"You've mistaken, I'm not Sora, I'm Sky. You know that Kairi". He told her with the most Sky-like impression he could force out at the moment.

"… Yes… you are… I know…" Kairi started to cry, not knowing if they were for joy or relief.

"No, I'm not." He walked passed Kairi, and headed for the door to the cabin to get some rest.

"Wait! I know you're Sora! Sky wouldn't have those blue eyes!" Kairi yelled.

He stops in his tracks. '_My eyes are blue right now!?_' He thought to himself. How could he not have known? He must've been able to see his own reflection after regaining control of his body! Sora didn't know what to do anymore, but hearing the sobbing done by Kairi, he couldn't help but to turn around and comfort her.

'_Sora__, just tell her the truth._' Sky said to him.

'_But what if she can't handle it? I mean, I've been with her all along and I don't tell her? She's been worried sick about me!_'

'_What are you going to do then? Just keep lying to her?_'

'… _No… I can't keep this up, can I?_'

Sora took a deep breath, and bent down slightly so his eyes would meet those of Kairi's. He put a hand on her shoulder, hoping it would provide the slightest bit of comfort.

"I'm sorry, Kairi. I didn't know what to tell you before, but now I do."

"So… I'm right?"

"Yes, you're right."

"You're back? For good?"

"Yes, I'm back. Sorry to have worried you so much and not saying anything about being back…"

Before he could finish his sentence properly, Kairi charged right at him and squeezed him extra tight. Sora was even having trouble breathing, and tried to struggle out of, or at least loosen, Kairi's grip. '_Not this again…_' He thought to himself, remember the hug Kairi had given him not too long ago. When she let go of him, Sora's legs felt weak and he fell onto the floor hard.

"Stupid Sora!!!" Kairi started yelling with tears still pouring from her eyes.

"Shh! Kairi, you'll wake the others up!"

"Oops… Sorry…"

Sora stood up from his spot, and smiled at Kairi.

"Kairi, I brought us to Neverland for a reason… You know what's special about this place?"

"Umm… Is it the fact that we can fly?"

"Right on!"

"So… What about it?"

"Well, I've always wanted to bring you here and well… Show you how to fly."

"But Sora, I'm not sure I'll be able to fly…"

"It's going to be fine, Kairi. You've got me right here with you. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Okay then. I'll trust you, Sora."

After 15 minutes of explaining how to glide properly in the sky, as well as how to stay balanced the entire time, Kairi was ready for the real thing.

"Okay, Kairi. You can do this. Just remember to believe in yourself."

"Believe…"

Kairi closed her eyes, and imagined herself, flying in the air. She gave a little hop on her foot, and straightened her body so she would fly like Sora. Nothing happened.

"Eh… Sora, it didn't work."

"Ah… You could try jumping higher instead of hopping. Maybe that would work".

Again, Kairi listened to her 'instructor' and tried again. She bent down, and jumped up high. She flew straight up in the air with quite a bit of speed. But, being a beginner, she started losing control.

"Whoa! Sora! Help me!" Kairi started spinning around in the air, and was afraid to land in case she would crash onto the deck.

"Don't move your arms so much, Kairi! You have to stay in control!" Sora yelled back, but made sure not to be too loud to wake the others.

"I can't! I'm too afraid!"

Sora flew up into the air, and tried to stop the high-speed flying Kairi. [Author's Note: That's a way to describe Kairi you don't hear often… Oo;] Kairi flew into Sora, and the collision caused both of them to fall from the air.

"I guess we need more practice with this…" Sora said as he tried getting up.

"Sorry about crashing into you, Sora…"

"There's no need to apologize, Kairi. You're still new to this stuff anyways. I can't be mad at you for that".

"I'll do better this time, I promise!" Kairi stated with a proud flame in her eyes.

"That's the spirit, Kairi!"

_Around a half hour later…_

By now, Sora's body was aching all over. Kairi had tried her best, but landing properly was still a problem for her. Sora was bruised everywhere from being Kairi's 'pillow' when she attempted to land on the deck.

"Does it hurt?" Kairi asked.

"Just a little, but it's no big deal. I've had wounds much worst than this back when I was trying to find you and Riku".

"I'll only try this one more time, Sora. I don't want you to get more injured than you are now."

With the bit of determination she had left, Kairi flew up, flew around in the air for a minute or so, and landed. This time, without crashing, falling, or injuring Sora.

"You… You did it, Kairi!" Sora ran towards his friend.

"I… I really did it… Yes! Sora, I flew!"

The two jumped up and down with joy, and Kairi continued to demonstrate her success in flying. After awhile though, they got tired from the celebration, and rested on the deck, looking up to the stars.

"The sky really is a beautiful sight here in Neverland…" Kairi said.

"Last time I was here, I never really had the time to look up. But I'm glad that now I see its beauty, without worrying about what's happening to you or Riku."

Kairi stared at the stars, and wondered about her current situation. She was alone with Sora, in this beautiful place, and no one would disturb them. It seemed like a perfect time to finally tell Sora her true feelings properly.

"S-Sora… I have something to tell you…" She said with a blush on her face.

"What is it?"

"I… well…"

"Don't be shy about it, Kairi."

"I…"

'_Sora__, you know what she's going to say, right?'_ Sky said to Sora.

_'What do you mean, Sky? You know what she's going to say? You're psychic too?'_

'_How slow are you, Sora!? Think about your current position. You're alone, with a starry sky above you, and you're with a girl who has feelings for you. WHAT possibly could she say?_'

With that, Sora could only blush. NOW he knew what Kairi would say. It was so obvious that he found himself dumb to not have thought about it before. He looked out Kairi, who was still blushing hard like him. This was their moment.

"I… I love you, Sora…"

_To be continued in Chapter 10…_

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Snakey: Typing this fanfic is starting to become a problem now… ; I've been completely obsessed with drawing, so not much time is left for the fanfic. I don't even remember how the story goes for this fanfic anymore! But thankfully… I remember the ending… ¯[]¯ So in the future, if I type something that does not fit with something that happened before, it's my memory that's failing me. And for those that are interested in seeing my art, you can visit my deviant art page: http:snakeyhoho.deviantart.com. Or, my real page: http:www.piggyhoho.net.

P.S: I **promise** that I will get this fanfic finished! OO Just… it might take a long time. So, bear with me please.

_July 2, '04___


	11. Chapter 10: Revealed

Concealed

By: Snakey

Chapter 10: Revealed

-------------------------------------

"I… I love you, Sora…"

Sora was blushing like mad by now. His entire face was covered with the brightest cherry red ever. Kairi, being the one saying such words, blushed with the same redness of her possibly new boyfriend. Even though Sora knew these words were coming, he still needed time to process them in his mind. It just wasn't something he dealt with everyday. After five minutes or so of nervous glances and silence, Sora finally found his voice.

"I'm to glad to hear it, Kairi… I feel the same way about you too…" He said in an almost inaudible volume.

Kairi's head snapped up, and gazed at Sora, who was embarrassed and looked down at his own shoes. She couldn't believe such a moment would occur so soon in her life. She would've cried in joy, but tried holding back so she wouldn't seem like such a cry-baby. The edges of her lip slowly moved upward into a warm smile. Trying to savour this moment of her life, she moved closer to Sora, and laid her head on his shoulder.

'_Aww__… What a cute couple you two are. I'll let you two be._' Sky said.

"S-Sky!" Sora cried out loud, startling Kairi who flew right off his shoulder.

Her eyes were widened, and a confused look stared at Sora in the face. '_Stupid, stupid, stupid…_' Sora thought to himself, knowing he just ruined his first 'date' with his new girlfriend.

"Sorry! It's just that Sky said something stupid, that's all!" As he said that, he realized he blurted out a secret he'd been keeping.

"Sky? Where's Sky?" Kairi's face looked even more confused, if possible.

'_Sora__… Think before you say things… Now we have to tell her more…_'

"Umm… well… Sky is… uh… Me." Sora tried to make his answer as simple as possible.

"WHAT!?" Kairi could not believe what she was hearing.

"You see, Kairi… Oh… How should I say this…" Now Sora was stuck.

"Just say it plain and simple, Sora… Don't hide things from me anymore!" Kairi exclaimed, pinning Sora with her voice.

"This is my body, but both Sky and I reside in it…" That was his simple answer.

"… How did that happen…? Did Sky force you to give him part of your body?" Kairi questioned.

"No! Of course not! Does he seem like that kind of a person!?" Sora defended Sky.

"Well, he doesn't, but not everyone is truthful…" Kairi shifted her eyes away to avoid eye contact.

"Kairi, he's in MY body. I know about whatever it is that he thinks about," Sora explained.

'_And vice versa, Sora._'

"And vice versa." Sora added.

Kairi didn't understand everything, and bothering Sora with all her questions at once would just irritate him. So, she decided to let the matter rest until later.

"Let's talk about this next time, Sora. It's time for us to get some rest." She starts to walk to the cabin.

"… Thanks Kairi…" He said, and followed her route.

Kairi reached for the door, when suddenly, the door exploded into pieces in her face, knocking the wind out of her.

"Kairi!!!" Sora jumped to her as quickly as possible to break her fall.

'_Sora__ It's them again! The dark figures!'_ Sky pointed out.

From the doorway where the shattered door once stood, two dark figures emerged. They moved closer to the two.

'_Sora__ Let me handle them!_'

"Sky! I can't change back to you now! You expect me to fall asleep right here and let you take over!? Not likely!"

'_What other choice do we have? Where's your keyblade?_'

Sora summoned his keyblade and it appeared on his left hand. It had been awhile since he had felt it's presence in his hands.

"I won't let you hurt Kairi!!"

He charged at the two dark figures with his blade, hoping to hit one of them with his first attack. But both evaded it without difficulty. Sora took a second swipe at the figure closest to him, and managed to know it off balance. But since this was a two-on-one battle, the other dark figure turned and caught Sora's hand.

"Let me GO!"

'_Sora__ Use magic! Summon! Anything!'_ Sky exclaimed.

"Hey! Look over there!" Sora pointed his figure to the sky. The figure snapped its head upwards, its grip loosening on Sora.

Feeling less tension on his wrist, he freed his hand, and sent the dark figure flying with a kick in its stomache.

"I can't believe it fell for that!" Sora said, picking up Kairi and running into the cabin with her.

'_Sora__, that trick won't work on most people. I just don't know why the enemy was so dumb to actually look._' Sky said in disbelief.

"At least we got away temporarily from one of them. The other one is coming this way!" Sora said as he put Kairi down gently once they were inside.

The figure approached them slowly… waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Sora slowly backed up, but tripped over something sticking out. Seeing this, the figure pounced towards Sora, not missing this chance. Sora regained his balance, and jumped out of the way as the figure flies right into the wall, breaking it and falling outside. The ruckus caused by the fight woke the others up, and they came to Sora and Kairi's aid.

"What's going on here?" Riku asked.

"It's the dark figures again! We're under attack!" Sora ran out of the cabin with the unconscious Kairi, leaving the others trailing behind him.

"What the… Sora???" Tidus said in confusion.

"I'll explain later, let's hurry back to the gummi-ship!" He ran to the other side of the pirate ship, hoping to escape the enemy.

When the five had reached their ship, they found that the enemy had been waiting for them right there. Selphie gulped, and took out her skip rope. Tidus took out his wooden stick, spitting on his hands for a better grip. Riku took out his sword and prepared for battle. The battle started with the enemies launching the first attack at Selphie. None of the figures seemed to be armed with anything at all, unless you count their waving cloaks that covered them whole. One of them lashed out its arms on Selphie, but noticing the figure with her sharp eyes, she has just enough time to dodge it. But right after the dodge, another two figures charged towards her.

"Selphie!" Riku ran forward, hoping to help Selphie.

It seemed the enemy wanted to take them out one at a time, because they were all surrounding Selphie, preparing to attack. Riku knew the situation was bad. They didn't have a chance at all with this group of enemies. There were just too many. He had to think of an idea, and fast…

"Sora! Take Kairi and Tidus to the gummi-ship!" He shouted at last.

"What??? You expect us to run off without you two!? No way!" Sora exclaimed.

"We'll be fine! You'll be safer in the ship, and I have to stay to protect Selphie as well."

"But…!"

"GO!"

Sora knew that fire in Riku's eyes. He was dead serious. He turned his back, facing the gummi ship. With Selphie as the unvolunteery distraction of the enemy, there were now only a few dark figures left to stop them. He handed Kairi over to Tidus, who was having trouble carrying the extra weight. With his keyblade, he attacked the figures using all his strength. While Sora cleared the way, Tidus used the dispelled route to reach the gummi ship with Kairi safely. When all three were on the ship, they looked back, saw Riku signal them to leave, and shut the door.

_To be continued in Chapter 11…_

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Snakey: Yay, I updated! OO And it's been around 6 months! XD Thank you for those that still believed in me! ; Haha… My brain is failing me in this story… I'm trying to remember as much of the plot as possible… it's just been too long… Anyways, I will still continue this story up to the point where it will end. But, again, it will take longer to update. Hope you continue to read this story to the end!

_December 12, '04_


	12. Chapter 11: Disbelief

Concealed

By: Snakey

Chapter 11: Disbelief

-------------------------------------

The two took in deep breaths, and sighed as they fell to their knees. Tidus put Kairi down between him and Sora, and then relaxed onto the floor. This wasn't anything like they'd expected in the beginning of the journey. It was supposed to be a great adventure filled with fun and laughter, with maybe just a few obstacles they'd have to overcome. But nothing like this was ever expected. Here they were, having just abandoned two friends, tired and completely exhausted.

"Sky… I mean… Sora…" Tidus mumbled as he faced the ceiling.

"Yeah?" Sora tilted his head to face the other teen.

"…Welcome back, although this probably wasn't the welcome you expected…"

"Thanks, Tidus. But I was always with you guys."

"What?" And that's where he lost Tidus.

"…It's a long story…"

"Put it in one sentence then."

"…I am Sky."

"Okay… Let's try _two_ sentences then…"

"How about I give you a briefing?"

"That'd work too…"

"Well, I was exploring a new area with Donald and Goofy before. I was looking here and there, but that place was so dark and it was raining too. But for some reason, even in that kind of situation, I managed to spot one single treasure chest. I later found an ultimately strong keyblade and keychain, so like anyone else, I decided to equip it. And then suddenly, everything went black. By the time I woke up, I realized I couldn't move my body, and that Sky, who is another person, shared the same body as me."

'_Wait! Sora! You said you found a keychain!?_'

"Yeah, I said I found a keychain!" Sora exclaimed to Sky.

Tidus stared at Sora, who, having just talked to himself, was rubbing the back of his head now in embarrassment.

"Oh, Tidus, remember I said Sky and I shared the same body? I can also communicate with him and switch control of this body anytime."

"I understand now… So, somehow you were washed up on Destiny Islands during that title wave, but during that time Sky was the one in control of your body?"

"Exactly."

"You IDIOT!!" Tidus stood up abruptly, catching Sora off guard.

"W-What???" Sora didn't expect _this_ from Tidus.

"If you were there all this time, why didn't you tell us? More importantly, why didn't you tell Kairi??" Tidus was red with anger.

"I couldn't tell her! I didn't even have a proper body I could call my own at that time! And I needed to help Sky!"

"You could've done both!"

"I just didn't want to worry you guys too much…" Sora looked down at his feet. Maybe it was a mistake to have told them so late.

"Anyways, were you talking to Sky before? Go ahead with your conversation while I get out the beds." He turned, and looked through the storage for theirs mats, blankets, and pillows.

Sora continued staring at his feet. Now he felt like what happened had been his entire fault. But this was no time to feel ashamed of one self.

'_What was it you were talking about, Sky?_'

'_About that keychain…_'

'_Yeah?_'

'…_Do you remember that female dark figure that I talked to when I was on __Destiny__Islands_' A/N: Refer to Chapter 4

'_Uh… sort of… she was trying to drag you off somewhere… but then you somehow had me conscious in your body at the same time, making our eyes purple… and she left…_'

'_I don't know why… but the place she wanted to drag me to most likely was my home. But…It didn't feel right._'

'_What?? You're saying you could've been home before the journey even started??_ _Sky!!_'

'_That's not what I mean!! That female dark figure… she needed me to be somewhere against my will… saying how _they _need me…_'

'_Your point!?_'

'_Well I remember that I had a dream about this girl… and something about my home… then somehow the place just disappeared and all I remembered was something about keybearer, keychain, and a girl saying "_Don't Cry…"'

'_…Sky, I think we're getting close to unlocking the mystery of your past, as well as where your real home is._'

'_You think so?_'

'_I know so.'_

Before Sky could put up another argument with Sora, Tidus screamed from the back of the gummi-ship. The scream had also woken Kairi from her slumber. Sora shot up, and ran to see what was going on. His eyes widened immediately. Tidus was on the floor, and his eyes, closed. Kairi wanted to know what happened as well, and glanced over Sora's shoulder. She nearly fell backwards at what she saw. On top of the unconscious Tidus was one female who was dressed in pitch black, not to mention that she, herself, _was_ entirely black, face included. Another dark figure!

"Kairi, hide in the corner!" Sora demanded.

He summoned his keyblade, not taking his eyes off of the dark figure. But even with his eyes on her, he did not even notice that she had moved right behind him.

"What the…!?"

Sora's line was rudely cut short. The woman had attacked his head in such quick motion that he couldn't react. His vision blurred, and then he collapsed onto the floor next to Tidus.

"I'm sorry…" The woman mumbled.

"Sora!" A voice came from the corner of the ship, which caught the dark figures attention.

Kairi cupped her hand over her mouth to prevent any other sound to come out. '_Oh no…_' She pushed herself as faraway from the woman as she could, but ended up leaning onto the walls of the ship. The women advanced.

"S-Stay away from m-me!!!" Kairi shouted, shaking with fear.

"I won't hurt you. My job is done." The woman spoke clearly.

She turned around again, and picked up Sora with her dark hands.

"Where are you taking Sora? Leave him alone!"

Kairi stood up and ran towards her. The dark figure turned her attention to Kairi, and Kairi stopped in her tracks. She tried to move her legs. Nothing. She tried to move her arms. Nothing as well. She even tried to blink, but still it was no use despite the effort. She was frozen, and unable to move. The woman started opening a black portal, preparing to leave.

'_No!!_' Kairi thought.

'_Sora__… Sora!!!!'_ She could make her thoughts audible.

She stared helplessly as the woman walked through the portal, carrying Sora in her arms. Deeper into the black hole she went, and then she disappeared. Right after she vanished, Kairi dropped forward onto the ground. She was able to move again. But she didn't care. She lost Sora yet again, and this time there were no promises of him coming back to her. Tears strolled down her face, and she cried out Sora's name continuously.

"SORA!!!!!" With that final attempt, she fell backwards and lied on the floor with Tidus.

Sora was gone. Feeling that things couldn't possibly get worse, the gummi-ship suddenly shook. It shook more and more, throwing Tidus and Kairi all over the place. The shaking worsened, and Kairi just couldn't take it only more. Her eyes shut after a heavy throw into the wall, and she lost her consciousness.

Warm air, singing birds, and splashing of ocean waters were present. She could hear them. She could feel them. It was all so familiar to her. '_Destiny__Islands__…?_' Figuring out the answer, she gradually opened her eyes, only to be blinded by the radiant sun and having to close them once more. She sat up this time before opening her eyes. While sitting up, she felt the warmth coming from her palms. It was sand. She gazed forward. It was the ocean.

"Look who's the lazy bum now?" A voice came behind her.

She whirled around to see the source.

"Whoa, what's with the wide eyes? Did I scare you, Kairi?"

'_This isn't right… This isn't right…_' Kairi could hear her mind telling this repeatedly. This _wasn't_ right.

"…Sora?"

"One and only."

'_No… This can't be real…_' Kairi couldn't believe what she was seeing. And with disbelief, she pinched herself.

"Ow!" She rubbed her cheek.

"What's with you today?" Sora raised an eyebrow at her.

'_Was it just a dream before then? Was I just dreaming of everything that happened on the gummi-ship? Is this truly real?_'

This was too much for Kairi to handle. It was all so confusing to her. She couldn't tell dream from reality anymore. She looked at the eyes of the Sora in front of her. Blue, the same blue that she had been used to all her life, which meant that this really was Sora in front of her. She looked around Destiny Island this time. It was in good shape, and it didn't even have the few pieces of scattered wood which were caused by the tidal wave in it. Then she remembered leaving Wakka on the islands and going off to journey with the others.

"Where's Wakka?" She asked Sora, yet still not one-hundred percent sure that it _was_ Sora.

"Oh, he's fighting with Tidus again by the paopu tree. I think he's trying to use Tidus to improve his aim again." Sora snickered as he stared towards the paopu tree.

'_Wait… Wakka only did that when Sora wasn't here… How did he know…?_' Now Kairi was getting suspicious.

She didn't believe what she was seeing.

_To be continued in Chapter 12…_

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Snakey: Faster update this time! I just felt a big urge to type for some reason. . This chapter is slightly longer than the last one, but it's still just a short chappie. ; I can't seem to type more nowadays… Hope you all had a great winter break, and continue to support me throughout this fanfic

_January 3rd, '05_


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